"The quality of your thinking determines the quality
of your life...As you improve the quality of your
thinking, the quality of everything you do improves
at the same time." - Brian Tracy, Focal Point

     The Financial Way of Thinking is a guidebook for bettering your financial condition. Its focus is both present and future oriented. It seeks to answer two lines of questioning: First, where are you today and what can you do to improve your current situation? Second, where are you going and what can you do to ensure that you continuously improve throughout life?

     Thus, as much as anything, The Financial Way of Thinkingis just that: a way of thinking. Its aim is to aid you in improving the course of your financial life by improving the way you think - and act - in regard to matters integral to your personal finances. As such,The Financial Way of Thinkingis not limited in its scope. Success or failure on your part does not lie in one or two areas. Rather it will be found in a whole-scale approach, one that incorporates a variety of subjects and aspects connected to you.

     That said, The Financial Way of Thinking is about more than just thinking. It presents a way of thinking about personal credit, debt, and related issues with the purpose of improving one's overall financial condition. Fundamental to this way of thinking are four principles that serve as the foundation stones on which to build a successful life; without them one cannot succeed. To ignore any one of these pillars of right thinking is to risk your opportunity for success. To ignore several of these principles at one time is to place your ability to lead a happier and more fulfilling life into peril.

1) Happiness Lies in the Realization of Your Potential:
     As Aristotle pointed out so long ago, all of reality is divided into two basic categories:Potency (potential) and Act (actuality). Happiness, fulfillment, nirvana - however you describe perfection - lies in the actualization of your potential. Put another way, happiness will not be found in "talking the talk" but rather in "walking the walk." It is only when you turn possibilities into realities that you experience the kind of real and lasting happiness that each of us, by our very nature, seeks.

     Thus, everything you think and do either leads to, or away from, the realization of your full potential. There is no "middle ground" per sé. Everything you think and do in respect to your finances will either improve or worsen your overall condition.

     Think of this in terms of your physical health. Everything you do (e.g., exercise regularly or sit on the couch every night and watch television), either improves or diminishes your overall fitness. Everything you do makes you healthier or unhealthier. In addition to your physical activity, health consists in nutrition, rest, regular check-ups, and a proper attitude. All are essential to continuously improving your health. And what you do, or fail to do, in every respect either adds to, or detracts from, your overall health.

     The same can be said about your personal finances. In order to actualize your full financial potential you are going to have to attend to a variety of things (some of which even go beyond the scope of this book). Before doing so, however, you will have to accept the two basic principles of human life: First, happiness lies in the process of turning possibilities into realities. Second, everything you do or fail to do either adds to, or detracts from, this process.

     These are very important points to remember. They serve as the doorway to the rest. That is, without them the remaining principles will serve you well but the likelihood is that they will not serve you very long or for lengthy periods of time. Get these two principles down and the rest will follow.

2) Attitude:
     The importance of holding and maintaining a proper attitude cannot be over-emphasized.If you are going to change the way you think and act about your finances, having a proper attitude is fundamental. No matter what you have done to this point in your life it is absolutely paramount that you are both hopeful about the possibilities that the future presents and confident that you can achieve them.

     If you lack hope or confidence you will not succeed. In fact, you cannot succeed. Success can only be achieved when you believe that it is both possible and realizable. Thus, maintaining a winning attitude is as indispensable as oxygen is to breathing.

3) Persistence:
     It is vital that you persist in the achievement of your goals and new habits. Make a contract with yourself in which you establish a plan of action and commit to that action. Promise yourself that, no matter what, you will succeed. Determine right here and now that even if you fall once in awhile you will get back up and begin moving forward and that you will achieve your overall goal. Remember, the best way to overcome any bad habit is with a good habit and good habits are the combined result of a resolution to change followed by continuous effort with ultimately no exceptions. Although it is easier said than done, healthy change is possible but it comes one moment, one hour, and one day at a time over even longer periods of time.

4) Patience:
     Patience is one of the most talked-about and least-realized virtues in life. There is no shortage of persons today who can tell you about the need for patience. Yet, in a world of drive-thru service and television programs that resolve life's most pressing problems in 30 and 60-minute intervals there is an abundance of people who think that everything good should happen overnight. If you are going to change the way you think and, thus, the way you act in regard to your personal finances you will have to be able to endure and persevere. Remind yourself that the road to success is the longest and most difficult, but most satisfying, path you will ever choose to follow in life. You did not get into your present position overnight and you are not, therefore, going to improve it overnight either.

     Patience with yourself and with anyone that may be involved in your situation - everyone from creditors, debt collection agencies, and credit reporting agencies to financial counselors and advisors - is an absolute must. No doubt you are going to lose heart now and again. And that is normal. You would not be human if you did not grow weary. Nevertheless, when you do, remind yourself that it is the slow, steady, and persistent pace that wins the race. Just because you (or someone you are counting on) fail periodically is not nearly reason enough to stray from or abandon your course of action.

     As you continue down the path of success you may find it helpful to review these four fundamental principles now and again. Remind yourself that you are on a new and better course of life that requires the right kind of thinking about the right things at the right time and in the right manner. Let these four principles guide you in getting on, and staying on, the right path.

     Finally, for all the things thatThe Financial Way of Thinking is, it is not a reference manual for determining everything that you can and should do at any given point in time.As explained above, it is a guidebook for improving your financial condition. It is more of a compass for better and improved direction than a roadmap and an itinerary telling you precisely where and when to go. As every person is different, it is very likely that the course of action each of us follows will also be different. You may discover at some point, for example, that you require the assistance of financial and legal professionals.The Financial Way of Thinking should never be viewed as a replacement for more specialized forms of assistance or direction when and where needed.