WealthWeek

PART II
How Emotions Interfere With Your Choices

How many times have you decided to do something (or, not do it), based on how you felt at the time? Have you ever paid attention to just how much your emotions dictate the sort of the choices you make? Many people struggle with giving into their emotions and they hardly notice their self-defeating patterns until they are faced with a breakdown - a time, when their habits are not serving them very well in life, which forces them to step back and look at their actions.

Ever been in this position?

If your emotions are out of control (or, even worse: controlling you), know that you can change your self-defeating patterns around at any time you choose to do so - even though may feel like you are completely a victim to them. There are two key ways to tackle the mighty emotional monster:

(1) Establish Habits That Serve You

Have a look at the essential characteristics of successful people. Study this list carefully and start taking on those characteristics that appeal to you the most and make them your own. Even better, take all of them on! That said, even if you were to take on just a quarter of these characteristics in exchange for your bad habits, you will be equipped to withstand your stubborn emotions. In good time, and with enough practice, you will develop the right habits and the sort of personality that is positioned to succeed.

The increased responsibility that goes in hand with wanting more demands greatness out of you.

The beauty of habits are that they function automatically and require very little thought. Do the work now to establish the right habits, and you’ll be miles ahead tomorrow when they function tirelessly for you, in the background.

(2) Be Prepared

The fact is, people usually give into their emotions due to their lack of preparation.

How many times have you ditched your healthy diet in favour of the old greasy one, just because you were starving and could literally, eat a horse? I know I have, many times! But, in all those times that I slipped up, it didn’t take long to realize that a little planning would have gone a long way. If I had only prepared meals in advance or thought about better restaurants to go to before I got to the point of deathly hunger, then, I would have been better off and my emotions would never have gotten the best of me. So, preparation would have served me well, it turns out.

This line of thinking applies to all categories in life, for instance…

• If you take care of your body (with good diet, exercise, dress well, etc.) you will be happier, have endless energy, you will look the way you desire to look and you’ll feel great. Would you say that is the sort of preparation that facilitates meeting the right sort of people, be it for business, relationships or friendships, etc? Yes, most definitely!
• If you take the time to map out some well-thought out financial goals and practice the discipline to stick to it, with enough time, you will build up a great nest egg. Do you think that sort of preparation will serve you well in the future? It did for me, when I wanted to buy my first piece of real estate.
• If you take the time to educate yourself (about whatever it is that interests you, or matters that you know little about but feel you should know more about, etc), do you suppose that that time invested will be worth it? Sure it will! Reading wealthweek.com is a form of preparation on your part - you are making a conscious effort to better yourself as a person and learn about wealth building so that down the road, you will be able to take advantage of opportunities that you cannot yet participate in (whether you know about these opportunities or not). Education is a wonderful form of preparation!

You can probably think of many instances that relate to your own life by now… Honor yourself and your true desires by giving yourself the gift of the discipline to now allow your emotions to take part in making poor choices.

The increased responsibility that goes in hand with wanting more demands greatness out of you. This greatness is born out of having good characteristics & habits and always striving to be prepared so that you can combat your emotions.

To your Success,

Eff Jay