Comments on: The Motivation to Improve One’s Situation http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/ Financial talk for the rest of us Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:14:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Bettsi http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976678 Bettsi Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:58:24 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976678 Hi Trent, I like this post and I have to agree. I’ve known people like your friend that always seem to do the least amount possible and others like the college student that are particularly driven. I think most of us ping pong about in the middle! Your mention of the spark reminded me of sparkpeople.com- a really helpful (and free!) weight loss / exercise tracking website. Glenn Gaesser, the founder of sparkpeople also wrote a book, The Spark, which you might find interesting. Happy new year- good luck with your weight loss goal!

]]> By: christine a http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976659 christine a Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:56:30 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976659 I disagree fundamentally with this post. The mistake everyone is making here is assuming that you have to make an inner decision to do something before you can start on it. You don’t.

]]> By: deRuiter http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976652 deRuiter Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:50:54 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976652 “He’s got the basic things that he wants out of life – a roof over his head and enough food to keep his belly full…” Yes, and he can suck the productive taxpayers dry for 99 weeks while he is on his extended vacation. If unemployment was 26 weeks instead of 99, there would be a burst of enthusiasm at about week 24 and he would find a job by the end of week 26. The productive are being forced to subsidize long relaxing vacations for the lazy and non productive like this man. His felony conviction would not stop him from starting a lawn mowing and snow plowing business, a light trucking delivery business, a business picking up scrap metal and selling it for cash, a house painting business, a dog walking business, a house cleaning business, delivering pizzas, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Instead he will loaf for 97 weeks, and then “magically” find a job. There’s a large segment of America which is content to drift along, supported by the working class, and no, I don’t mean austistic or other damaged children, the terminally ill, and the aged! I rent housing to lower income workers, and when they are laid off, none of them ever get a job until one week before the unemployment checks end. When asked about this, one of them finally took pity on me and explained, “I make $20./ week less on unemployment than if I am working, and I don’t have to commute and pay for gas, I don’t have to work 8 hours a day, I can sleep in and do what I want. Why should I work for $20. a week more? I’m actually financially better off when drawing unemployment.” How could I argue against that logic?

]]> By: Cecil http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976648 Cecil Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:48:37 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976648 I largely agree with what you say, but I think that it is possible (but far from easy) to ignite the spark in another person. Think about Ghandi and Martin Luther King (and a lot of others).

I spend a lot of time and energy on people that I should have not (or in another way). Mostly it was a waste of time. But in a (very) few cases I managed to get the spark in the other person.

So two major challenges (for me):
- How to see something is really a ‘lost’ cause.
- How to be able to motivate people to motivate themselves.

]]> By: Steven http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976566 Steven Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:54:35 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976566 Like your exercise goals?

]]> By: lurker carl http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976556 lurker carl Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:55:19 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976556 A felony conviction is hard to overcome. So is borrowing $100K for college degrees in fields that pay graduates $30K per year.

#2 NHPatricia – Actively seek success. You ignite the spark within yourself by trying with all your might to excel in everything you do.

]]> By: Alice http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976548 Alice Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:49:49 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976548 The felony conviction will make it more difficult for this guy to get a traditional job. Maybe he isn’t throwing applications at any job due to fear of rejection or his past mistakes becoming more widely known.

A post about overcoming past mistakes would be interesting, as this conviction will likely haunt him (fairly or unfairly) for the rest of his life. A lot of people make mistakes, but with evolving technology, it’s harder to move beyond them.

]]> By: NMPatricia http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976544 NMPatricia Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:13:19 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976544 How can one ignite that spark within oneself?

]]> By: Michael http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/12/27/the-motivation-to-improve-ones-situation/#comment-976543 Michael Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:11:43 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=8091#comment-976543 To summarize, you gave the college student money but you won’t give the felon with two kids money for “parable of the talents” reasons.

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