People will tell you what’s on their mind if you ask.  A few weeks ago I asked this question on Facebook:

As you pursue your journey towards success, what obstacle, challenge, or problem keeps reoccurring that you’d like to resolve?

Overwhelmingly, the reoccurring challenge was financial. Since my personal vision is helping people get from here to there, the first step towards getting to your “there” is clearly defining where you are now. Recently, I shared the first reason why you’re broke is because you don’t have a budget. Remember, money without a direction will disappear. You can read it HERE. Now that you’ve caught your breath, let’s talk about the next reason why you’re broke…bad habits.

 

Bad Habits

Bad habits interrupt your life and prevent you from accomplishing your goals. So why do we still hold on to them? And most importantly, is there anything you can do about it?  The reoccurring bad habits that consistently eat into your finances are vices (smoking, drinking, partying, & gambling) and insecurity (I’m sure they’re many more).

Vices

The average smoker blows through one pack of cigarettes.  In combination with state and local taxes, the city tax increase pushes the total taxes on cigarettes sold in the City of Chicago to $7.17 a pack.  Using the number of $7.17, we’re talking $50.19 per week which quickly becomes $2,609.88 per year. The shocking part is that I know people who smoke two packs a day, but swear they can’t find money in their budgets to save!

Not only is that $2,609.88 or more per year just from buying the actual cigarettes, smokers pay more for every type of insurance imaginable. From health to life insurance, smokers can expect to pay an additional 20% or more. In addition, smokers can typically expect to lose money when even attempting to sell a car or even home. Ouch!  Why not invest that money into an interest-bearing account?  The next bad habit that’ll lead you to Brokedom is insecurity.

Insecurity

Every time you make a decision, and in this case purchase, based on what you believe someone else will ‘think’ about you as opposed to what’s best for you and your situation, you make a decision to take one step closer to being broke. There will never be a way for you to achieve your financial goals if you continue to care what others think about you. Once you learn to stop caring about what other people think about what you drive, where you live or what you’re wearing, you may actually have a chance to build some wealth!  So, how do you get rid of bad habits?

You Don’t Eliminate a Bad Habit, You Replace It.

All of the habits that you have right now — good or bad — are in your life for a reason. In some way, these behaviors provide a benefit to you, even if they are bad for you in other ways. Sometimes the benefit is biological like it is with smoking or drugs. Sometimes it’s emotional like it is when you stay in a relationship that is bad for you. And in many cases, your bad habit is a simple way to cope with stress.

Because bad habits provide some type of benefit in your life, it’s very difficult to simply eliminate them. This is why simplistic advice like “just stop doing it” rarely works. Instead, you need to replace a bad habit with a new habit that provides a similar benefit.  We’ll discover how to do that next.

Do you have any bad habits that need breaking?