Budget Time & Money

This topic is the 16th Success Principle out of Napoleon Hill’s book, Your Right to be Rich. 

We often hear people say; “Where has the time gone?” or “I am so busy, there is not enough time in the day” or “Why is there never enough money to do what I would like to do” or “if only I had the money”.  

If we want financial security in this world we’ve got to budget our time & budget our money and put a few principles in place.  

1. Budgeting our time & money according to A Definite Plan: 
 
We only have 24 hours in a day. 8 Hours to sleep, 8 hours to work your job or business (if you are still doing network marketing part time) and 8 hours to spend on what you choose to. How we spend the 8 hours of our choice is what will make us successful or not. Often associates become despondent towards their business because of the amount of time input vs financial gain. However, if we really had to be honest and record how many daily habits for success activities we perform in the available 8 hours, we will soon come to the realization that our time input is minimal compared to the expectation of financial reward. If we are serious about success in this business, we need to plan our time and calendar around the Mannatech calendar and make sure that every minute counts towards our definite plan and goal. We need to plan our days by making a to-do list for the day to follow and tick off our list the tasks as we get them done. It doesn’t matter whether you do this business part time or full time, a budgeted time plan is essential for success. We should go as far as setting out daily, monthly & yearly goals which are congruent to our definite plan. Remember, time is the only thing that once spent, we can never get back again. 
 
When we budget our money, we also need a definite plan so that we don’t squander our financial resources. If we are in a situation where we run out of money towards the end of the month, we definitely want to draw up a daily, monthly & yearly financial budget. It is not only about how much money we make, it’s about how much we get to keep that will take us forward to our definite plan. We must be honest and take care to record all income & all expenses. Write down budgeted expenses but then keep record of actual expenses. A lot of money is spent on “unnoticed” small things like the “Latte” factor, bank costs, credit card costs etc., which are often ignored when drawing up a budget. Once we have the full picture we can eliminate unnecessary expenses which could add up to a substantial amount and be put to better use, like paying off debt. It’s only when we have our budget in writing that a picture is painted and it becomes clear on how we can improve our financial status. If we ignore it and just leave it to chance, we will be rewarded with sleepless nights, stress & uncertainty.  
 
2. Have the discipline to put the plan into action: 

Successful people not only understand the value of budgeting their time & money, but have the self-discipline to add to their time budget aspects like:
 - Time for our profession which is doing the daily activities for success. 
 - Time for relationships with friends in Mannatech & also outside of our business. 
 - Time for health & fitness
 - Time for family & recreation             

They also have the self-discipline to include in their financial budget: 
 - Investing into their business by buying;  
   * Monthly Tom’s
   * Extra Tools to give away  
   * Event tickets for themselves and extra to sell or give away to prospects
   * Personal product order & extra to bless people  
   * Money for unforeseen events 

There is really no point in having any budget whatsoever if we don’t have the self-discipline to follow through and adhere to it. 

3. Creating good habits

We are the only creatures on the earth that have the privilege of developing our own habits, refining them, changing them and generally doing what we want with them. Napoleon Hill says that man is not bound by instinct, man is bound by the imagination and willpower of his own mind. He can project his willpower and his mind to whatever object he pleases. He can form whatever habits he may need in order to take him towards his objectives. We must see budgeting time and money as a tool to change direction, a mechanism to convert the decay into prosperity. We should use budgeting as a positive means of reaching our definite plan and not in a negative light by focusing on what we don’t have or don’t want. In contrast it enables us to focus on what we want and where we want to go. It is in fact a positive and powerful tool that should be part of our lives regardless of our level of wealth and availability of time. 

Thank you for been given the opportunity to write this blog we hope it will be helpful.

Warm Regards
Neil & Helena Wilken