On the way home from class today, I heard about a book called Rich Habits. It sounded interesting. Googling found me this initial list:

1. Live within your means. Yep.

25 percent on housing, no matter if you own or rent ($1000)
15 percent on food ($600)
10  percent on entertainment ($400)
5 percent on vacations ($2400)
5 percent on auto loan ($200)  I’m actually a little over on this one — but lower on some others.

That’s 60%. If you save 20% as the author recommends, and tithe, you’ll have 10% remaining for clothing and health care and such.

2. Don’t gamble. Yep

3. Read every day. Yep

4. Little TV and surfing the Internet. I’ll need to check on this — I don’t watch TV, but I do quite a bit of Netflix background while knitting or doing production work. I rarely spend casual time surfing the internet, though of course that’s where I work.

5. Control your emotions. Yep.

6. Network and volunteer regularly. I should do more. I volunteer at church, but there are other causes I’d like to support and certainly I need to do more networking.

7. Go above and beyond in work and business. Yep

8. Set goals, not wishes. Yep

9. Avoid procrastination. Hmmm… I would have said no, but #1 daughter has pointed out some patterns on this, so here’s the list of fixes:

▲ Create daily “to-do” lists. Yep
▲ Have a “daily five.” Yep
▲ Set and communicate artificial deadlines. Yes, but I don’t stick with them
▲ Have accountability partners. This could be good for me.
▲ Say a “do it now” affirmation. I’m disciplined, productive, and hardworking — but maybe I don’t stick to the plans.

10. Talk less and listen more. I will do this.

11. Avoid toxic people. Yep.

12. Don’t give up. Never.

13. Set aside the self-limiting beliefs holding you back. Not aware of any.

14. Get a mentor. I’ve had them in the past.

15. Eliminate “bad luck” from your vocabulary. Yep.

I’m moving #16 to tomorrow.