While I like to joke about waiting for things to magically fix themselves, the truth is that it’s a rare problem that does solve itself — at least in any positive way. In fact the opposite is usually true: that which we ignore gets worse.
So why is it that so many of us use the following “plan” when confronted with a financial issue?
First, we refuse to admit it exists, hoping that it will either go away or won’t really impact us all that much. Later, we reluctantly admit there is a problem, but turn to hoping it will magically fix itself. Then, we look for the quick fix.
It’s only after the quick fix fails that we actively work on putting forth the effort to get to the root of the problem and solve it.
Now I don’t believe this pattern is the result of laziness. (Although of course it’s natural to want to relax after a day of work instead of putting forth still more effort.) Instead, I think the issue is often a lack of confidence in our ability to solve the problem — or a belief that the problem is bigger than it really is.
Let me give you a non-money related example, since it’s fresh in my mind. A door inside our house kept shutting itself. At first I ignored the problem, and just kept re-opening the door. Then it became more and more annoying. It often shut itself while we were in the room. (Trust me, it really IS possible to hit your face on a door that sneaking opened the moment you turned around.) Also, the cat and dog did not enjoy being trapped in the room.
So after first ignoring the problem, and then trying the quick fix of a doorstop (which also annoyed me because I did not want the door open all the time either) I finally spent 2 minutes with Google. It took me 30 seconds with a hammer to bend one of the pins and fix the door.
Most of our money-related issues are like this too. The solutions are relatively simple — which is not necessarily the same thing as easy — but we have to quit putting things off and DO them if we want to get anywhere.
So, if you have a money-related issue, what are you waiting for?
Posted in Emotions & Money on 09.03.10 with no comments.
