Let The Fundamentals Be On Your Side. Always.

At the foundation of everything that happens are some fundamental rules that can't be broken.

Rules like:

• keep your expenses below your income,
• you can't fool everybody all the time,
• you reap what you sow,
• you can't give what you don't have,
• you seldom rise above the people you surround yourself with, and
• lasting changes in life have to come from within.

A lot of times, in following trends and friends, we go against these fundamental rules. We bump up our expenses to keep up with the joneses while not paying attention to our income. Our future plans are filled with what to own and buy, not what income generating activities to do. We ignore the fact that we have to earn the money we need to spend and thus should pay more attention to growing our income generating ventures rather than growing our expenses. In the end, you see a lot of people who have too many financial pressures, and little unplanned urgent expenses become major emergencies.

There are also many of us who surround ourselves with the kind of people we don't want to be like. It sounds unnatural but yet we do it. We are avoiding taking a big leap. We feel too comfortable around them even though they are not helping us progress. We are afraid to join the community of the people we look up to. Unintentionally, we are breaking another fundamental rule. You can't rise above the company you keep. 

And they are a few of us who think we can work our way to the top through deceit. We lie about too many things. We trump up our competence and achievements. We profess to give what we don't have. We live like most politicians. And it is a terrible way to achieve success. You damage everything that matters more than money -- relationships, family and your reputation.

No matter how tempted you are to ignore the fundamentals, you shouldn't. A life built on unsound foundation will crumble or at best, be permanently faulty.

In all you do, always let the fundamentals be on your side.