What I am suggesting is more about developing Practices for life that enable better, enhanced living.  What is learned through regular practice goes back to the ripple effect I mentioned in the prior post.

The benefits of the PRACTICE theme is well-demonstrated with the Money Management category.  This area is grossly under-addressed in our educational system, and if you don’t have some strong influence (from parents, etc.) you might be victim to the ‘instruction’ by our media, and marketers of the Almighty Consumer Lifestyle.  Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy clothes and plenty of other *stuff* there is to buy – but I like to be in the seat of control when it comes to how and where I spend my hard-earned dollars!

If you’ve had any type of financial scare (or insecurity) you are in the company of millions of Americans (average household consumer debt is around $15K at the time of this writing).  Getting on track to be in control of your finances is *involved* to say the least, but if you’re on that track, much can be gained from the slow implementation (i.e. Practice) of a system to help you reach your financial goals.  Instant relief/gratification (filing bankruptcy, winning the lottery…) will not really help in the long wrong.  Much like the ultimate failures of ‘quick’ weight loss, financial success usually requires a slow and steady approach.

Most successful learning happens over the course of time.  And if you got this type of education from childhood, you are SO lucky!  You had the benefit of time AND a quick, sponge-like brain!  My financial education was a bit different…

I mentioned before that I started college without much financial support.  Welcome to the club, right?  SO many Americans carry massive student debt for years.  And the lessons I learned from my exact experience have made me who I am, and I am good with whom I am!

In any case, I waited tables through all of my college years (and beyond) and got by with student loans and some marginal living.  I was in college the years that credit card companies were placing applications in EVERY text book and I signed up for my 1st credit card with CitiBank, in 1991.  About two years later, I had my 1st Nordstrom card.  Now, I didn’t go too too crazy with the cards, and I always paid my bills (nothing ever defaulted) – sometimes minimum payments. Oh, I had no, no clue!

(As I sit here and write, I still have a visceral feeling of what those times felt like for me!)

Also mentioned earlier, it took me years to get out of college, and when I finally did, I moved back to the Valley (San Fernando Valley – CA), lived with my sister, and got another job waiting tables at Houston’s in Woodland Hills.  I think I knew I needed a real job, but I had no idea what I wanted to do  – I had this biology degree (because I thought I was going to be a nutritionist).  Some recommended I apply to Amgen, but the thought of a low-level lab job was REALLY not interesting to me – I envisioned a prison-like experience – total suffocation.

Recall that I had 5 different majors as an undergrad.  During the LAST quarter of my FINAL senior year, I was frequently in the library working on independent projects; I happened to be in there around the same time of day.  The same librarian, on two different occasions, helped me with wildly different subjects – one was Tropical Ecology and the other was related to a Chicano Studies course I was taking.  I was really fascinated that she understood and could speak intelligently about two very different subjects, and help me find material in both.  (I need to remember this when my current ‘patrons’ act surprised that I know about, say, incidence and prevalence in emerging markets, but I digress!)

I came home wondering what this ‘librarian gig’ was all about.  My boyfriend at the time told me that librarians had Master’s Degrees and that he had actually considered it as a career (he was a bit older than I, and established as a philosophy professor at a local community college – and no, I did not attend said college and he was never MY professor!).

So, back to my life post-college, back in the Valley, my college friend was applying to law school.  While the Internet was certainly ‘around’ we did not have a computer (much less a modem); but I learned there was an accrediting association for library schools, and they sent me a brochure.  I circled schools (based on personally desirable cities) and requested applications.

April 9, 1998 I was accepted to Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts, and I was on top of the world. I began to make plans for my move that upcoming August. My brother accompanied me to Boston in July to get some things sorted out, and enjoy the city. One main goal was to find an apartment. I also wanted to visit the school and understand financial aid. (I was already paying on a small-ish loan I’d taken to complete undergrad – around $20K). As he and I looked over the financial aid paperwork he very seriously said, “Linda, you need to figure out how you are going to pay this back – as quickly as possible.” I was looking at more than $30K in loans for Simmons. I should have asked him for more detail – for more advice on how to approach. But my defenses were up. I felt threatened. If I really had to look at what it was going to take to pay it back, would the natural conclusion mean I shouldn’t do this? Would I be forced to think of a new plan? Would I stay in CA and wait tables – perhaps wait for the broody professor to make me an M.R.S.?!?

As I said, I would not change my experience for ANYthing, but needless to say, that debt was massive weight that I dragged around until February 2013.  That debt had me working side jobs (in addition to my FT academic library gigs) – even up to 2007.  The debt kept me from buying what some would consider necessities… That debt made it difficult to NOT use credit cards (exacerbating the debt).

At some point in the midst of a 2001 layoff, poorly paying academic library jobs, and landing my current corporate gig, I began to lay it all out – to map my ‘financial future’ – in a spreadsheet.  Here I could see in black and white when and how the debt would be paid.

I still wasn’t planning appropriately though.  Now that my husband and I use the Dave Ramsey program, I see the many parts my plan was missing.  It was missing *life* – it was missing that *life happens* – I had all my dollars, beyond my rent and very modest amounts for food, gas, and electricity going towards debt-related bills.  I didn’t have money set aside for regular car maintenance… for inspection sticker (and other known yearly expenses), or for emergencies and other unexpected expenses.  When you live so tightly and don’t have provisions for *what is going to happen eventually* you are set up for disaster.

So my plan wasn’t the greatest.  In addition to not having room for contingencies, it also lacked a sense of a goal.  My only goal was to get out of debt; I later learned how important it was to have something beyond that.  However, my primitive plan was a Practice that was teaching me to live within my means – and I was forced to practice it for many years.  The more detailed financial plan of my current life helps to set up boundaries and a foundation…(elements added to the “Financial Practice”). Because we know what is truly valuable/what we want for our lives and future, we are better able to decide how to spend our dollars.  We have a better sense of what’s worth the dollars spent.

Digging one’s way out of a financial rut is not the worst thing that could happen.

Having to dig one’s way out of a financial mess is not the worst thing that could happen, IMO.  There is much to be gained by having to Practice specific tactics, regularly, over a really long period of time.  Athletes know this!  With Practice, the *right* moves become ingrained; you are in a better position to execute proactively, with a better sense of control.

Equally (or more) importantly, we need to know those specific tactics. We need tactics specific to our unique position; i.e. we need the *right* Practice.  Athletes have coaches to guide them, and teammates to hold them accountable.  In later posts, we’ll explore more about establishing the right practices for your unique position, and also about how to get the right guidance and establish accountability.

Have you experienced a rut that took a while to get out of, but that was hugely educational along the way…?

This ‘story’ continues here…

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Linda Stacy, Productivity Speaker, Writer, and Coach, inspires her clients to achieve increased fulfillment, engagement, and success by way of energy management and the *brass tacks* of healthy, efficient productivity and time management.