The Way You Spend Time and Money Reflects Your Beliefs and Values

We hold our values and most important ideas and people close in our hearts, but the true test of that belief is reflected in how we choose to spend our time, money, and resources.

We get into habits that carry across all areas of our lives and develop who we are. For example, extremely disciplined people tend to spend time focused on things of great importance to them both at home and in the office. People who lack strong discipline have a hard time following through and completing things and tend to spend time thinking about a project at home or at work but struggle getting it done.

So what does all this say about us? The choices we make define us, not just who we think we are or would like to be.

On the personal side, here are a few areas to think about:

If you believe a healthy lifestyle is important, then healthy eating will be your daily diet, and exercise will be a regular activity.
If saving money is important, then you’ll put money into savings on a regular schedule.
If your kids are your priority, then your time and attention will reflect it through conversations, activities you participate in with them, experiences you allow and encourage them to have, and places you choose to spend your money.
If you believe personal growth is part of your responsibility and gift to yourself, then you will challenge yourself by listening to new ideas, trying new activities, and meeting new people.
If you believe that helping others is part of our responsibility to the world, then you will participate in activities that are for the benefit of others and where you don’t stand to gain anything from it other than the fulfillment of seeing others excel.

On the business side, a few ideas as well:

If you’re committed to training your staff, you will have a dedicated budget or time for education and staff development.
If you believe in the importance of having a healthy, dynamic culture, then you will reward the behaviors that reinforce the culture you want and let people go who bring unhealthy, negative vibes into the office.
If you want to have a company that is truly built on amazing customer service, then you will give your staff the training, responsibility, and authority to learn how to make good decisions for clients.
If you think that creating a differentiated business model is critical for your business’s survival, then your staff will regularly have leader-led and personal time dedicated to creating, developing, practicing, and implementing new ideas.
If bringing in new business is critical to company growth, then the sales team will have a designated leader, the sales staff will be required to spend the majority of their time on new business development and be held accountable to goals, and the company will provide an environment and resources for the sales team to focus on new business rather than being distracted by other service-related issues.
If you want your clients to view you as a business partner, then you will have time dedicated for the team to research and study client businesses, their respective industries, and general business principles.
If you want to be an effective leader, you will read and challenge yourself with many varied books, publications, articles, blogs, and educational sessions, and discuss ideas with people who hold similar and different views.
If you believe that having employees who are excited about working for your company is key to productivity and longevity, then you will first engage with them through regular communication, provide a clear vision and purpose for the work everyone is doing, provide a safe and healthy environment for everyone to successfully complete their jobs, and regularly create ways for them contribute ideas and challenge themselves for personal and professional growth.

Always doing the right thing is hard. We are faced with so many pressures and requests every day from both well-meaning and self-serving people who want our time, money, and resources.

Allowing others the control through pressuring recommendations, or ignoring things, waiting passively, and not making a choice are all decisions. They’re just usually not the best ones.

As hard as it may be, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to those at home and work to decide the most important things for success, growth, and happiness. And we need to allow ourselves to use our precious time and resources in the best way possible.

Find out who you value and who the center of your universe is by downloading our ebook.