Laziness Is Financial Cancer (Proverbs 6 (Part 2))

You lazy people can learn by watching an anthill.  Ants don't have leaders, but the store up food during harvest season.  How long will you lie there doing nothing at all?  When are you going to get up and stop sleeping?  Sleep a little.  Doze a little. Fold your hands and twiddle you thumbs.  Suddenly, everything is gone, as though it had been taken by an armed robber.  Proverbs 6:6-11

Being lazy in any aspect of your life will never cause you to win.  This is especially true when it comes to your finances.  If you don't set a financial goal(s) that you've got your sights set on, you will constantly be doing things that sabotage your ability to win.  Zig Ziglar said, "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time."  If the only thing on your To-Do List is NOTHING, you will always be headed in the wrong direction.

Laziness is a direct result of: 

1. Lack of a Goal
2. Loss of Hope

Product marketers are counting on you to not have a Goal that is bigger than their item.  When you don't have a target that is more important to you than nearly anything else around, you will fall for the ad campaigns that tell you the item you have just isn't good enough anymore.  When you fall prey to this situation, you will always be playing catch up.  "Keeping up with the Joneses" may seem like the thing to do, but "the Joneses" are BROKE, FIGHTING, and SCARED.

I'm going to be very transparent here and tell you that I LIKE STUFF.  More particularly, electronic stuff.  One of my favorite things in life, don't judge me, is pulling the static cling stickers off of a brand new electronic toy.  There are LOTS of things I'd like to have RIGHT NOW, but our family has set a Goal to pay our house off in 2015 that sticks in the front of my mind every time I see a new toy I think I NEED.

Lack of Hope is like throwing water on a fire that once burned bright.  Maybe you tried to better your situation at some point in the past and something beyond your control caused failure.  It's time to dust yourself off and try again.  You can either tread water, drown and become shark bait OR you can take the first stroke toward the shore.  You may still take a couple of bites, but keep swimming.  There are rarely any directions that take you on a single, straight road from Point A to Point B.

When you find Hope again, the water that was poured on your fire is turned to gasoline.  When you throw some Hope on top of a Goal, STEP BACK because there's going to be some serious fire.  You'll be able to do things that you never thought you could do in a million years.  People will say, "How did you do that?"  

When you find something that means more to you than temporary comfort or stuff and set a GOAL to get there; and you have HOPE that you can make it despite what everyone around you might say.  Only then will you get off your butt and do something about it.  Until then, you'll continue to lay there and wallow in your mess.