Know thyself
Many people spend a lot of time trying to improve their weaknesses. Of course it depends on what the weakness is, but as a book I read somewhere said, sometimes you’re better off working on improving your strengths instead.
Take me, for example.
I already know that I have a tendency to conk out early on projects and to not get as much done as I intended to do in a day. I’ve noticed that I tend to get “most” of the things done on my list, regardless of how many items I have on my list. This means that if I have three things on my list, I’ll probably do two of them. If I have seven, I’ll probably do five.
So I don’t make small lists very often, because I know myself. I know the items won’t get done. Instead, I take advantage of my strength (the desire to get “most” things done) and don’t worry about my weakness (the tendency to conk out). That way it all evens out.
The same thing can be applied to personal finance. Suppose you have a bad habit of overdrafting your checking account. You’ve already tried berating yourself and vowing to never let that happen again, but you still keep right on overdrafting. Switch your focus instead to something that you’re likely to do better with: move to paying only with cash, set up overdraft protection, schedule a time each day to balance your account, etc.
Find what does work, instead of focusing on what doesn’t.
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