Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
March 28th, 2007 by Remon
People like to compare theirselves to others. They do it all the time, I used to do it myself and it’s likely you’re doing it as well.
DON’T
If you’re comparing yourself to others it’s time to stop it. It’s a bad habit and you will not reach your financial goals if you keep doing it long enough.
Say you have a friend who just bought a new car, has a bigscreen TV and travels a lot. Usually when you have these kind of friends you get the feeling that you got to spend more money as well. Why? Because you don’t want him to think he’s doing better than you or you’re doing not as good as he is.
This is when it becomes some kind of competition which is BAD. You only buy stuff or do things because of your friend, it are things you wouldn’t do or buy if you didn’t hang out with him. It’s costing you lots of money, especially over time, and creates a fake feeling of doing well.
To become wealthy or reach financial freedom you need to put money away, preferably in investment. Instead of a bigscreen plasma buy a cheaper TV, instead of a new car buy a (young) second-hand car and invest the difference.
Yes, it will seem like your friend is doing better. There’s nothing wrong with it. Over time it’s you who will do better because you were the smart one years earlier and decided to work on your future instead of throwing your money away.
I know a girl who compares herself to others, and now she’s over $7,000 in debt because she bought a lot of designer clothing, just because her friends did it as well. I told her straight up how stupid she was. Was it really worth it? $7,000 in debt is a lot.
If you can’t spend the money, than don’t. It’s really not that hard. Be honest about it and don’t let your ego get in the way. You’re friends really don’t mind if you can’t spend as much as they do and if they do, are they really friends?