“The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo.”

Bob Iger –CEO, The Walt Disney Co.

This is just an observation, but the vast majority of people I talk to are struggling like a person drowning. They are frantically flailing about, all their energy expended just to maintain the status quo of their lives.  They are miserable, they are besieged, desperately trying to keep their heads above water.  They will tell you they are doing everything they can and then some, but luck is favoring the rich folks.  That they don’t have the money to make money, or people inherit money and they don’t have any rich relatives.  They tell me they are barely able to buy groceries, and don’t see any way out.  (They do seem to have money for beer, cable TV, and a smartphone, – anything to dull or distract from the pain of the struggle, I’m just saying.)

I completely understand the struggle.  I struggle too. I have struggled and panicked and splashed like a drowning person too.  There are some weeks that I still struggle to make ends meet. Weeks like this one, when one of your main sources of budgeted income is cut by 25% overnight. I get it.  The difference is, I have an actual plan to get to shore, and I work that plan every single day, without fail.  Instead of thrashing about, I redirect my energy, from panicked floundering, to executing a well thought out, long-term, big picture, strategic vision and plan.

I’m compelled to ask the people who tell me they are struggling, “Do you have a plan or are you just going to maintain the status quo?”
Ask yourself these questions the next time your bank account screams out at you that you can’t afford something:

Am I okay with this struggle being the norm?

Do I want my life to be this way in 5 years? In 10? What about in 20 years?

If not, what is my plan to end this incessant struggle?

Is my plan to “do more with less”? Clip more coupons? Always buy someone else’s junk off of Craigslist?

If I keep doing what I’m doing, why do I think my life will be any different?

The lottery? My luck might change?

HINT: If you are waiting on the lottery or your luck to change, the evidence of the numbers show you have a better chance of an airplane crashing into your car, while on the Interstate, going 65 mph.

If you don’t have a plan, you better start to really enjoy the status quo of the struggle.  In past several weeks, I have talked to hundreds of people, who are sick of the struggle, but have no plan. They haven’t even thought about having a plan.  They are almost shocked when you ask them about it. Trying to get by on less money is no plan, it’s no life….it’s barely survival.  And then when a plan comes along, they look at it, and say, “Yeah, I think I would be good at that, but I don’t to want to (fill in the blank: spend the money, learn the skill, sell anything, be involved in anything long-term, etc.)

Find a plan today, right now, and then DO IT! (Or don’t, lie to yourself, and tell yourself, you’ll start thinking about a plan when you get some bills paid off.   Just keep drowning, they say it’s the most peaceful way to go).

Boo Yah!

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