Do you constantly say and believe that you cannot afford things? That you cannot afford to enjoy the things you want to enjoy, cannot afford to take your children to good schools, cannot afford to start a business, cannot afford to invest in certain things, cannot afford to switch careers or take a break from work. This list can go on and on! There are probably some things that you were saying you couldn’t afford five or ten years ago and this is still the case now. Is it possible that you have simply become comfortable with not being able to afford it? After all, when you declare that you cannot afford it, you don’t really have to do anything further (Click to Tweet this thought). The decision is made. No striving, no thinking, no ideas needed.
Why do certain people seem to do exciting things while others just seem to have settled? The people who do these great things decided to afford them. I am not suggesting irresponsible spending, going into bad debt and mismanagement of money, but I think you will agree that there is a yearning that you may have to do certain things or experience certain things. Things that are truly important to you, not the ones for show. And many times you have been telling yourself you cannot afford it. When is that going to end, or are you simply okay with not affording it?
Here are examples of people I personally know who chose to afford it:
- Samantha likes to travel. This year alone, she has been to three different countries. Samantha runs a law practice and it has been a very tough year for her business and even making ends meet has been challenging.
- Nyokabi works at a multinational firm. She took leave and toured Europe for three weeks. Her husband is transitioning into self-employment this year and finances have been stretched.
- Dennis committed to buying an apartment at the beginning of the year, for six million shillings. He has to-date, paid four million shillings for it and has two payments to complete before February. There are a couple of months this year when he has not been paid his full salary due to challenges in the company.
The people I am talking about do not earn a lot of money. I know this would be different if they earned millions in income, but they do not. As you can see, this has been a year with financial challenges for all of them, but they have still managed to do these things that are important to them. Many people have assumed that Samantha and Nyokabi have a lot of money because of the kind of travelling they did. Dennis tells me his colleagues at work cannot believe that he has come up with four million shillings in the course of the year. How did they do this? They gave themselves permission to do it.
We underestimate the effect of a decision. More than a decision, a conviction that you are going to make it happen. For a minute, forget the bank account balance. Samantha and Nyokabi have both told me that they first had to give themselves permission to travel, before trying to figure out the money. Dennis committed by paying a deposit even if he did not know where the rest was going to come from. Once they gave themselves permission, other things started to fall in place. Sounds easy enough right? But it’s not.
Let’s just take the holidays as an example. How many excuses would you give to not go on holiday? Let’s see: there’s work, children, family, projects etc. At some point, you are going to have to ask yourself whether you are honestly going to wait for all these excuses to be resolved before you can actually do it. It never will, and ten years later, it will probably still look like this. As for the investment the excuses would sound like this: it’s not the right time, too risky, not the right location, don’t trust the developers etc. Then of course we seal the excuses with the final stamp called money. However when you do give yourself permission, you are making a statement that your goal, experiences, investments, that which is important to you, is worth your effort.
A lot happens when you believe that you are actually deserving of your full and focused effort. When you don’t try, you are saying the opposite and unfortunately most of us end up existing there. With a little bit of research, you will find that the travelling is not as expensive as you thought. A lot of people spend a lot more money on alcohol and parties. There are even people whose bank account balances are healthy yet they still believe they can’t do this. If we do not disable the mind-block of “I can’t afford it”, even money will find the block there. We have a perception that certain things are expensive, so we don’t try.
In a few days, I travel with my friends for one week. Most of it was funded by the fact that I do things like carry lunch as opposed to buying everyday, and extra income from faithfully writing this article for publishing in The Daily Nation every week. Time away has more value to me than eating expensive lunch does. When you decide, you also discover options. Dennis has been able to start a new line of business for his company. One that does not have as many cash flow constraints as the current one. He was also able to pinpoint wastage in his personal life and sold his car.
So, try to afford the things that are important to you. Be willing to do away with the ones that aren’t. The true value is in the striving, the effort and what it does for you. Whilst it may not always work out exactly as you planned, there is confidence that builds up when you exert yourself and remove the comfort zone of simply not affording it. You start knowing that you are in control of your plans, life and destiny; rather than the money. Please don’t let your life be determined by your current bank account balance.
To learn more about how to use your money as a tool to reach the heights and goals that you had only imagined, click here to learn more about the Centonomy Personal Finance program, Centonomy 101! Ready to register? Click here!
Waceke Nduati-Omanga runs programs on Personal Finance Management, Entrepreneurship and Career Success.
Find her at waceken@centonomy.com| twitter @CekeNduati| Facebook /CekeNduati
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