I'm on to something, but it's not fully brewed yet. Maybe I've been spurred on our economy's demise, based to a large extent on the limits of debt financing. Maybe it's that I just read the New York Times Magazine article on Suze Orman, who has a strong aversion to personal debt and continually poses that simple question to inquiring listeners, "But can you afford it?" Or maybe it's that Advanta just unilaterally froze our business credit cards this weekend.
I don't know, but I realize this: not only do we debt finance our purchases, but we also debt finance our schedules. We add more and more liabilities to our days--and this can be as simple as watching that extra NBA playoff, or saying Yes to one more appointment, or even texting more than any human being needs to--and we simply don't have enough hours to make good on all our commitments. Or we short ourselves. We lose sleep or work faster. What if we asked ourselves, "Can I afford to take this on?"
Nothing too profound (yet), but I'm telling myself, "Don't debt finance your schedule." Let's see where it gets me....
3 comments:
I also received notices from ADVANTA that "...effective May 30th all Advanta Business Credit Card accounts, including your account, will be closed."
Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), I do have other credit cards.
I totally agree with the over scheduling of our lives and it is to the extent that we are losing relationships. We buy, buy, buy so we can fill some need, or to show people we care about them. Whatever happened to the good ol "Hello" or the "how are you doing?" Often we are so quick to ask that statement or say those words, but so slow to listen to the response. We are already moving onto the next scheduled item, the next appointment. Our minds aren't even in the conversations we're having, they are on the next task.
Greg, this is an interesting way to look at your time. It's limited, just like money. Very neat idea, i think you are on to something.
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