I hope you are enjoying this little series. As I was typing yesterday, I almost stopped and put it off because I was having a hard time concentrating. The noise level and my frustration were going up, up , up, but I knew that if I didn’t push through, that would be the end of it, and I have several more things to say. But before I do that, I need to let you know what got me fired up, because that’s the focus of today’s post: Financial Goals. I have managed to get myself in a little financial bind, and it was because I wasn’t paying attention–I didn’t keep myself focused on my ultimate financial goal of being prepared. We’ll get out of the mess, but I’ll have to tighten up until I feel the pinch more than a little. I knew all along where I wanted to be, but I didn’t create a plan to get there. I didn’t take the necessary steps to move it from a nice idea to a reality.

That’s why I thought it was pretty serendipitous when I had a chance to review Live in the 2. I took the short test there, and even without looking at the results, I thought I saw where a lot of my issues come from–lack of follow through. (And for the record, in the interests o honesty, this applies to way more than financial matters for me.) Here’s what the test revealed about me and discipline:

According to your responses, it’s probably safe to say that you couldn’t be more out of balance if you planned it – which we both know you never would. You try your best to keep things together, but if just never seems to be enough. If only there were a solution! Think about how much better life would be if you could learn the secret to this art called discipline.

Oh, how I would love to say “Well, I never knew that”, but the simple truth is that I did know it. I just haven’t been disciplined enough to do anything about it. When I told you that life had spiraled out of control, I was dead serious. I did much better in the Passion and Risk categories, but this tidbit from the Interpersonal Skills area blew me away–I’ve bolded the shocker.

You’ve got a pretty good attitude about life, and while others view you as positive and approachable, you require time away from people. You prefer to surround yourself with quality rather than quantity.

See, I already knew that about myself, but it’s something most people don’t realize about me (particularly my family) and so it was shocking to me to see that this 5 minute computerized test picked up on it. Now I at least know that it isn’t because I am not giving off the appropriate signals, but rather that people around me refuse to read them. But I am getting sidetracked–see the part about discipline above.

I am glad I took the test. As I continue on the self improvement path, I expect I’ll be referring back to it often. Living in the 2 is about so much more than money. In fact, money is just a tool– the real benefits come form better health, less stress, more edifying self talk, etc.

Go take the test. We both know that in the end, they want you to buy their self improvement materials. I can’t speak to the efficacy of the materials as I haven’t reviewed hem. I can tell you that the test is worth investing 5 minutes in, and that the fact that they want to sell you something doesn’t negate the wisdom you can gain from looking at your results. In fact, I imagine I’ll be using some of the things I’ve learned as I write this series.

Now, I have to put this little badge in here, even though it embarrasses me to do so. I always feel like it’s a big ol’ sign that says “ignore this post”. I really, really hope you won’t do that. If you roll over it with your mouse, it’s gonna pop up and tell you I got paid for writing this post. That’s not entirely true. In the interests of full disclosure, I will get paid for 200 of them but the other 566 were free.

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