#1110 Pay me now or Pay me later

“If we’d taken ourselves more seriously, maybe we wouldn’t be in menial jobs that pay nothing and are really hard.”

I heard or read that line somewhere and wrote it down because it encapsulated life as I understand it. When I was a kid, there was a car commercial with a mechanic trying to convince a customer to use an oil treatment that would clean his car’s valves.

Yes, the oil treatment was extra money, but a valve job was much more costly, should it become necessary. The last line in the commercial was the mechanic saying, “You can pay me now, or pay me later.”

That’s the thing, isn’t it? The decisions of today affect the outcomes of tomorrow.

I cannot predict the next market crash, my future health issues, or natural disasters. But I can mitigate the damage. I’m not advocating bunker-building, cash under the mattress, or isolation. What the first quote about taking ourselves more seriously says to me is the last line the mechanic utters.

“Pay me now or pay me later.”

It’s harder to take a class online than it is to play Minecraft.

Reading a personal development book may be less appealing than bingeing Yellowstone, but read the first line of this post again.

You don’t have to sell the TV and enroll in a master’s degree program, but you do have to know that the results of your actions today will shape your life tomorrow.

If you sit on the couch eating potato chips every day, never exercise, and only get up to go out for a smoke, what will your health look like ten years down the road?

With no thought to self-improvement, no goals, and little effort in your chosen career, what will your retirement prospects look like? For that matter, with little forethought and preparation, how limited will those career choices be?

It doesn’t take a herculean effort to make a few changes. Like investing $100/month in an S&P fund or spending $100/month on muffins and coffee, small actions compound over time for better or worse.

Own Your Sales Gene…