Leading Change: Passion Required

“Not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will you embrace change." – Dave Ramsey

I am a passionate person, there are very few things that I do not have an opinion about. Ask my wife.

In my experience the largest hurdle to implementing financial change in your house is getting passionate enough to start. Let’s be real, it is usually not a lack of knowledge that keeps us from changing – it’s the lack of motivation. Dave put’s it best with the quote up above. You will simply not change if your current situation doesn’t hurt bad enough. That’s why people talk about  hitting “rock bottom” before they change their lifestyle.

I am not here to tell you that you need to hit the lowest of lows before you will be able to turn things around. In fact my goal is to help you avoid getting there. I have seen rock bottom, it’s ugly, that’s probably why I am passionate about helping you change.

Passion is a large factor in what drives motivation. You don’t see too many pro athletes hitting the gym in their late 30s without some serious passion for their sport.

Brett Farve doesn’t need the money, he needs the game!

It is not something that comes to you because you think about it all the time. Passion doesn't hit you because you read the latest motivational book. It’s not from a weekend conference or a guest speaker at work. It comes from discipline and success.

I am a terrible golfer but I really like to play. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I am passionate about the sport but I am certainly motivated to keep trying. If I am terrible why would I still want to play? It’s really a simple answer – it’s because of that one good shot I had last round. That one good shot is all I need to be motivated enough to keep coming back.

Let’s pull it all together here. Passion is what is going to motivate you to change your family. You do not get passion through osmosis – you cannot absorb it! You will find passion by starting your journey and your passion for change will increase with each success that you have.

True story:

We work with a man who filed for bankruptcy 15 years ago. He would be the first to tell you that he certainly was not passionate about his finances when he hit “rock bottom.” That bankruptcy is what changed his motivation. Our friend changed his life, he adopted habits like maintaining an emergency fund and living with a budget.

Today, he has a credit score in the high 700’s and is a model of financial turnaround. More importantly, he is changing his family legacy. Not only has he impacted his nuclear family but now he is reaching out to his extended family to teach them the lessons he learned the hard way. Passion oozes from his body– even his co-workers notice that he is different.

You can find the passion to change your financial future. The first step is simply to get started. Ask your accountability partner to help you make a verbal commitment with you to take the first step.