There are a number of financial mistakes you will make in your life and there is nothing you can do about it. The same goes for other people as well but you might find yourself looking at and talking about other people’s mistakes more than your own shortcomings. This has been a trend that could eat up a lot of your time.
One possibility is that it is easier to talk about other people rather than face up to your own problems. Talking about someone else’s struggles helps you forget about what you are going through. For a while, you are focused on something else and you forget your own set of challenges. You then look for other problems other people have and pick on it to help you forget.
Financial mistakes of other people can be very tempting to dissect and go through but the effort you put into it can be better used to help you manage your own problems. Regardless of how enticing it is to huddle up with your friends and start talking about your neighbor’s problems or those of other people, work on your own challenges.
As you go through your own financial challenges, there are a few things you can keep in mind to help you manage it better. CNBC shares that the average American is about $38,000 in debt excluding mortgage loan. That is a big amount to work on. Here are some of the tips worth looking into to manage your own finances.
No one is perfect and that includes you
One of the things you need to keep in mind when you are tempted to talk about other people’s financial mistakes is that no one is perfect but that also includes you. As other people wrestle with their own challenges, you will also have your fair share. Before you start looking at other people’s mistakes, look at the ones you have first.
People will make mistakes and you are not excluded from that. If you heard about your neighbor having mortgage problems, you might also be going through a rough time with your car payments. If a friend is getting behind on their credit card payments, your own student loan payments could also be taking away a big chunk of your income.
When you are tempted to start looking at the lives of other people, train your mind to reflect on your own struggles and refocus your efforts towards it. You will slowly realize that there are better things to do than worry about other people’s problems. You have enough of your own challenges to focus your energy and time on.
Learn from other people’s mistakes
If there is one take away from the financial mistakes of other people, it is to try and learn from their experiences. You can start and talk to people close to you and try to understand the lessons they got out of their very challenging experiences. This is something you can take with you and hopefully be useful for your decision making down the road.
One thing you need to understand with this is that you do not have to copy the exact solution they put together to get out of their financial troubles. That is still reliant on a lot of personal factors only they know. What you can take away is the process they went through to come up with a solution that enables them to weather that storm.
The thought process might be pretty straightforward for some people and a mystery for others. However, it does have similarities that you can pick up if you look close enough. It involves a thorough understanding of the problem on hand, identifying available courses of action, and then acting on it. Look at the process and try to do the same with your own set of challenges.
Build up from the lessons you picked up over the years
As mentioned a while ago, financial mistakes normally lead to lessons in life and as you look at the lessons from other people, you also need to look within. There is a good chance that you have gone through several money challenges of your own. From there, you can analyze and see where the lessons are.
Even the desire to look at and focus at other people’s problems can be a challenge in itself. If there is one thing to pick up from it, it could be that it does not really help your situation. Thinking about other people’s troubles only will not help you get over yours. You are only wasting time which you could use to get out of your own problems. Forbes shares that making the same mistakes repeatedly will be costly in the long run.
Aim for your own goals
Rather than spending time nitpicking about the financial misery of people around you and maybe even giving pieces of advice, you do not fully understand, use the time to work on your goals. You can spend a few minutes of your day learning about a new skill. There are a lot of online short courses you can take up in your own free time at home.
If you love to bake, you can look up online courses to help you bake better and start turning up products you can sell for a profit. Rather than focusing on other people, spend time honing your craft and improving your skills. If you are a creative person and love bringing upcycling old items, look up inspiration online and figure out how to improve your craft.
Try to help you out rather than just talking about it
If you are in a position to help out, that is a better option rather than spending time gossiping and talking about the problems of other people. This is true especially if the person you are talking about is someone close to you like a family member or a good friend. It is easier to approach and talk to them directly and see how you can help.
Oftentimes, lending an ear and hearing them out is all the help they need. They just need someone to talk to who will listen to their problems. There are times when they have an idea about what they need to do and it comes out when they start talking about their problems. You do not have to do anything but listen and be a friend.
Mistakes will yield either a solution or a lesson
Financial mistakes should result in two things – finding a solution or coming across a hard-learned lesson. These are the ideal outcome for any challenges or mistakes you make in life. If you cannot solve the problem, you need to at least learn from it. This way, you will know how to handle similar problems in the future.
If you went through a mortgage problem and you got behind on your payments because of a maxed-out credit card, you will be more careful with your credit card use. The next time you plan on using your credit cards, you will be more careful to prevent being in the same problem you were before which put your mortgage in peril.
There are a lot of financial mistakes you and other people around you will make and the key is to focus on your own mistakes. As tempting as it is to look at and dwell on the mistakes of others, working on your own shortcomings will help you improve your finances and make you better in managing your money.
