Attention whiny complainers: Why you STILL aren’t saving money
Attention whiny complainers: Why you STILL aren’t saving money
54 comments — written on January 5th, 2010
Reminder: Tonight (Wednesday January 6th), I’m holding live video Office Hours covering psychological barriers to earn more money. Join the live video Office Hours at 7pm Pacific.
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Earlier this week, I announced that 2010 is the year where I want to help you earn more money. This is the “E” part of my CEO Model: Cutting costs, Earning more, and Optimizing spending.
I was really surprised with how much this struck a chord. You’ll notice 150+ comments asking for specific areas you want me to cover. Read closely: It’s not just tactics you want. Lots of you asked for help crushing your own psychological barriers.
I know you want me to jump right into the tactics of earning more money — how to turn your idea into income, negotiate higher rates, and scale your earnings — but I’m not going to yet. That’s because it’s critically important to understand your implicit barriers before you start tackling action steps.
And that’s what I want to cover today: Whiny people who don’t think they can save (and earn more money).
Let’s start by examining what happened about 1 year ago.
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In late 2008, when the market was crashing, people stopped caring about investing and negotiation and just wanted to hunker down and save money. As a result, I launched something called the “Save $1,000 in 30 Days Challenge,” where I showed people tactical ways to save money using fresh psychological techniques. Thousands of people joined in and worked to save thousands and thousands of dollars.
Except a few people.
While most people were supportive, I was surprised by how many people were actually offended by the very concept of a “Save $1,000 in 30 days challenge” because they didn’t even earn that much each month, or they found my recommendations to be “too obvious” — even though I defined “saving” as cutting costs, earning more, and optimizing spending.
Here are some examples of their complaints, which I’ve categorized for easy reading:
Whiny complaint #1: “I don’t make enough money”:
Whiny complaint #2: “This is so obvious”
Whiny complaint #3: “You’re just doing this to make money”
These whiners miss the point.
- Saving $1,000 in a month was eminently reasonable, but it was also an aspirational goal. If you couldn’t save $1,000, what about $500? $200?
- More likely, the whiners expected personalized information to be spoon-fed to them.
- The people who complained a year ago are probably still complaining about money, while many of the people who took the challenge saved hundreds and even thousands of dollars.
No more excuses, please. We all know friends who complain ...
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Categories: Uncategorized Tags: Ceo Model, Complainers, Earn Money, Earn More Money, Earning Money, Earnings, How Many People, January 6th, Negotiation, Psychological Barriers, Psychological Techniques, Reminder, Savin, Saving Money, Thousands Of Dollars, Video Office, Ways To Save Money