America may be the land of opportunity but it has disintegrated into the land of irresponsibility as well, which wouldn’t have sat well with King Solomon or God, for that matter. Too many of us want to get rich quick while medicating ourselves into oblivion, supporting hideously bad behavior on reality television, and poisoning our one and only body with a steady diet of tasty but nutritionally dead food products that only faintly resemble anything edible.
Is this how the responsible man (or woman) lives? Are you proud of your life or do you wish you could stick certain behaviors in the back of a closet where no one can see? And what does any of this have to do with investing anyway? Sorry to have to be the one to bring it to your attention but it is very difficult to segment your life into baskets, where characteristics of one don’t have an effect on the other. Let’s take irresponsibility for instance. Is it possible to completely lack self control with your diet, time, and health, yet walk a perfectly straight line when it comes to proper handling of the resources God has given you?
Well….it’s POSSIBLE, though not likely. The higher probability is that slovenly habits in food, drink, and wasted time will carry over into your investment life and, before you know it, your portfolio looks like a bug splattered on the windshield. Not a pretty sight. Conversely, one can also expect that a dedication to discipline and responsibility in one area of your life can have a positive impact on other areas. Are you fat, tired, and lazy? Fix one of the three and it’s a good bet that the others will begin to show improvement too.
It seems to us at Solomon Success that people tend to either be responsible or they’re not. There aren’t too many perfectly split personalities out there who can go either way and be successful at both. The bottom line is this. If you want to improve your investing, try losing some weight, get on an exercise and diet program, and stop watching so much crap television. Respect yourself. Respect the life God gave you and, most of all, stop squandering incredible opportunities because you’re too busy watching American Idol three nights a week.
The Solomon Success Team
Flickr / Tony Birrer
