Meir Statman, Professor of finance at Santa Clara University and a leading expert in behavioral finance, finishes up our series of the 21 best money tips ever according to CNNMoney.com. Here’s his advice, from the article:
Best advice I ever got — and can give: You are more resilient than you imagine. And if you ever doubt that, remember the many people whose troubles were much greater than yours yet who survived.
The best advice that I ever received was the strength of my parents — Holocaust survivors who persevered to make a life for themselves and their three children.
My take:
This is one of those nuggets that you probably can’t appreciate until you go through a crisis. Unfortunately many have recently gone through (or are still going through) a financial crisis. This advice goes hand-in-hand with keeping your head up, having a positive attitude and working hard. I’m a big believer in “making your own luck” through hard work and a positive attitude. I truly believe that the folks who think they “can’t catch a break” or “have the worst luck in the world” will almost never do as well as those who have faith that they can and will prosper.
My beliefs are not based on some higher calling or blind faith, though. Think about it this way: You are the boss. You have two people working for you and need to cut one. The “qualifications” are exactly the same and the only differences are their names and this:
Person One:
- electric personality;
- positive thinker;
- works hard making sure her work product is what your customers want;
- comes to you with ideas based on customer feedback;
- learns from mistakes;
- owns her mistakes;
- doesn’t make excuses; and
- keeps trying over and over and over and over again until she gets it right.
Person Two:
- “can’t catch a break” personality;
- complainer;
- works nine to five, Monday through Friday, because those are the business hours and she’s not likely to get any new orders during “off hours”;
- never owns her mistakes;
- never learns from her mistakes;
- never approaches you with client feedback;
- always has an excuse for her failures; and
- tries a few iterations, concludes that it “just can’t work” and moves on.
Easy, right? Person One clearly has faith that she can and will (and works hard to) persevere. Person Two sees the world as “happening to her.” There is nothing in the list that makes you feel that she has any faith that she’ll persevere. Hand down, Person One.
At the end of the day, we’ve had recessions before. We’ve had depressions before. People have lost jobs. People have lost houses. People’s credit scores have been damaged before. It’s OK. Don’t let the world “happen to you.” Take ownership of your life and your success. Believe in yourself. You can and will persevere. I believe that you can (and I don’t even know you)! But if you’ve made it this far in the post I know you’re not a “happens to me” guy or gal. And if you were, you’re not anymore and you’re well on your way! Work hard and have the right attitude and someday you’ll look back at these times and be proud of yourself. It will feel darn good. I promise.
Oh yeah, also put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!
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