What you focus on will expand in time

Let me start by asking you a few question. Though you may not have heard them before, I'm willing to bet that you know the answers. Here are the questions:

• Can a person become fit and healthy by going to the gym once a month?
• Can a novice tennis player become good if he plays only once a month?
• Can a cook become good if he goes to the kitchen once a month?

See, I told you that you would know the answer!

It is obvious that the answers to the above questions are "no", "no" and "no". One does not have to be a genius to figure out that it will be very difficuly, if not impossible, for anyone to become fit and healthy or become a good tennis player or a good cook if he carries out the task only once a month. In fact, it does not even compute and all of us know it.

So now, let me ask you another question. Can a person who analyses his finances once a month become good at it?

No, don't try to change the subject!

No "buts" of "ifs" - the answer is obviously "no" again. Common sense will tell us that it will be difficult, if not impossible, for us to be good at handling our money if we analyse our finances only once a month.

But yet, there are tens of thousands of people who expect to become millionaires but don't spend much time analysing their finances. In fact, some people don't do it at all.

How can they master their money when they do not even monitor it on a regular basis?

How can they become good at making money when they do not learn anything new about how to do it?

Just like learning to play tennis or becoming a good cook requires regular practice, you have to look at your finances on a regular basis. Ideally, you should look at your finances every day if you want to become good at managing it. Of course, "look" means more than just looking!

First, you have to educate yourself. This will mean reading books and magazines and attending talks and workshops. Next, you should take action by making use of information that you have picked up. Then, you can monitor the results of your actions on a regular basis. You can make adjustments when necessary so that the results are consistent with your goals. Continue learning so that you can get even better.

Of course, all this will require time, effort and, yes, money. But these are prerequisities for building and keeping wealth. And you have to do this on a consistently, ideally, everyday. If you spend 20 minutes a day looking at your finances and monitoring your expenses and read a book on money matters each week, you will become very good in money matters. In fact, you cannot help but become better.

Let me share a story to illustrate my point. I used to share a apartment with a friend some years ago. Because of the nature of our respective work, the only time we saw each other was in the car park. And every time I asked where he was off to, the answer was either 

(a) he was going out to play snooker, or 

(b) he was just coming back from playing snooker!

I suppose you wouldn't be tooo surprised if I told you that he was (and still is) very good at snooker. In fact, his wife was also very good at snooker. so much so that she was the district champion!

Now, how did both of them get to be so good at snooker? It was because they spent most of their time at snooker parlour. They were focused on snooker and, naturally, they became good at it.

So, if you want to become good at snooker, then start focusing on it. Read books about it, learn from the good players and practice on a regular basis - ideally, everyday. If you do that, even if you do not become a district champion, you will become very good at it.

By the same token, if you want to become good at handling money, then start focusing on it. And what you focus on will expand with time. And because you are focusing on money, in time, your bank account will also expand!