I was fairly nervous during the whole thing – I’m not exactly comfortable in front of a camera yet. My wife thinks it will turn out well, though.

If I can find a video of the appearance online at a later time, I’ll add it to this post.

If you happen to catch it, feel free to leave your thoughts (positive or negative).

Throughout the year, I keep my eye open for good Christmas gift ideas for my family and friends. I’ll glance through flyers, look at sales, and stop in at exceptional events like “going out of business” sales with the idea in mind that I’ll find an amazing gift for someone at a stellar price – and I usually do find one or two.

As the end of the year approaches, this ramps up. My wife and I make long lists of all of our Christmas obligations and we dig deep into the process of buying presents for everyone. We spend hours upon hours thinking about the perfect gift for everyone in our family. We usually make a bunch of homemade gifts – homemade beer, homemade cookies, and so on. During this period, we usually do find a few great gifts for people, and we happily wrap these up and stow them away under our tree.

As the final week or so approaches, we’re usually getting very nervous about the remaining holes on our list – and we start to panic a bit. We wind up searching madly for gifts for those last few people, rushing around with a ton of pre-holiday nervousness.

A few days before Christmas, we look under the tree – usually as we’re packing up for a long winter trek to visit family – and we’re aghast at the sheer quantity of gifts. “Did we really buy all this stuff?” we’ll ask each other. And, sure enough, we did.

For those last few days, we usually feel some guilt. We think about all of the money we’ve spent on gifts, even if we did find some spectacular bargains along the way. Usually, when we actually do make a tally, it’s not as bad as it seems, adding some relief to our misery.

As Christmas approaches, though, our feelings about the gifts begin to change. We settle in with our family, warm and comfortable and together. We watch old home movies together and play games together. We relax and nap and tell each other stories about the year that’s past.

And on Christmas morning, we all get up together and open those gifts that we’ve been stowing away each year. All of the people we love, together, in one room, opening the gifts we’ve thought so carefully about and purchased for each other.

I get to watch my niece try to look serious as she opens her gifts, but her simple joy at receiving something she’s wanted for a long time still comes through on her stern face.

I get to watch my sister-in-law sit there with the dazed smile she gets every year on Christmas morning.

I get to watch my mother’s eyes glow with happiness as she watches her grandchildren dive into a pile of presents.

And I realize that it really doesn’t matter what gifts are actually wrapped up under the tree. I’ve already received the perfect Christmas gift – those moments with my family, creating memories of togetherness and happiness that will stick in my mind for the rest of my life.

I know this from experience. I used many excuses to continue my poor spending habits and I still use them sometimes to talk myself out of exercise or other tasks that I know I need to do.

Excuses are the epitome of failure. Every time you come up with a weak or unjustifiable reason for not doing something you know you should be doing, you’re choosing failure over success. You’re choosing to be broke instead of financial healthiness.

Here are eight common excuses that people use – and I used many of them myself – to avoid taking charge of their money, and some thoughts on why each one is nothing more than a crutch used to avoid actually taking charge of one’s situation.

I was born poor.
I was born poor, too. I grew up in a house where the walls of the stairwell were falling in and eventually were covered up with plywood sheets. There were many times where supper came from what we caught or what we picked from the garden that day.

I carried that concept into adulthood, believing that there was no real need to plan for the long term future because I could quite easily return to those “born poor” roots if I needed to. So I spent. And spent. And spent.

What I was spending wasn’t just fun money, but it was protection against ever having to return to poverty. Instead of spending wildly on fun things, if I had merely paid off all my debts, socked money into retirement, and spent less than I earned, I would have lived a very happy and comfortable life while also creating some protection against ever having to return to a low income level.

Spending money under the badge of having been born poor ensures just one thing: you’re walking a tightrope that, if you slip just a bit, will take you right back to that situation you worked hard to escape from.

You only live once / you’re only young once.
This excuse is absolutely correct, but it’s often used to excuse frivolous behavior when it actually should teach the opposite lesson.

You’re only young once, right? Well, let’s say Carl is 22 and he has a choice over the next eight years to put $1,000 away in his retirement account at an 8% annual return. He does that, but when he’s 30, he gets married and has kids, so he stops saving. Alexandra, on the other hand, spends her twenties blowing that extra $1,000 – she’s only young once, right? But then, at age 30, she realizes the mistake she’s made and starts saving $1,000 a year.

At age 50, Carl has only put away $8,000 of his own money, while Alexandra has put away $20,000 of her own money. But guess what their account balances are? Carl has $61,808.09 in the bank, while Alexandra only has $51,160.12 in the bank.

That’s right – Carl put away $12,000 less than Alexandra and has $10,000 more than Alexandra at age 50. The difference? Carl did it when he was young.

You’re absolutely right – you’re only young once. Don’t waste it.

The lenders tricked me.
You made a mistake signing up for a loan you couldn’t really afford – and now you’re stuck. You’re facing payments bigger than you can handle and things seem scary.

You have two choices here. You can either stick your fingers in your ears and go “lalalalalala…” using your situation as an excuse for poor behavior or you can face your problems and try to fix them.

Call up your lender. See what you can negotiate. Look into owning less expensive vehicles. Sell off some of your extra stuff. Look for a second job. Try to sell your property and go with something cheaper, even if you have to take a loss.

You have options. Ignoring those options and using the situation as an excuse to spend does nothing more than dig the hole deeper.

I have no idea how to manage money.
I can’t do math. I don’t understand investing. I don’t know how to balance a checkbook. So I just won’t do any of it and hope things turn out well.

Ignorance is fine – it’s something that can be fixed. If you don’t know something but are open to learning it, you can find books and help for learning almost anything. Hit your local library and check out some books on the subject. Look for classes offered in the community on these topics. Search the internet for assistance (especially The Simple Dollar, using that handy-dandy search form on the upper right of each page). You can even ask smart people you know for help.

What’s not fine is choosing to be ignorant. No one knows everything – what separates those that succeed from those that fail is whether or not you seek out answers for the questions you have and seek out help for the things you don’t know how to do.

I work hard and I deserve some reward for it.
This is a crutch I used all the time. Books, CDs, DVDs, video games, golf equipment, expensive trips – all of these were my “reward” for my hard work. And I deserved it, right? I worked my tail off and that should mean I get to taste the good life.

There’s a few big problems with that, though. My desire to have the “good life” often meant that I didn’t have adequate time to actually fully enjoy the elements of that good life. DVDs would sit unwatched (or only watched once). CDs would sit unheard. Video games unplayed. Books unread. Golf equipment in storage for months. Trips hastily planned and not fully enjoyed.

Sure, I lived the “high life” with all the stuff I wanted, but I didn’t actually get to enjoy a lot of it.

Here’s a simple antidote to this crutch: scale back a little on what you’re spending. Instead of shopping for more things, spend some time enjoying the things you already have. Master that video game instead of buying a new one. Watch the DVD, then watch it again with the director’s commentary, and dig through the special features before buying a new one. Wear a new item of clothing a few times before adding another to your wardrobe. In short, thoroughly enjoy those things that you’re purchasing.

God will protect me.
Many people have a deep faith through which they find answers to many of their deepest questions. Some people, though, come to rely on this faith for everything, acquiring a deep belief that they will always be protected from everything because of their faith.

Most faiths agree, however, that one of the gifts God has given us is that of free will. We have the power to make choices for ourselves – we are not automatons.

God has already protected you. God has given you every single tool you need to protect yourself. You have the free will to choose whether or not to use them.

I’m so far behind that there’s really no hope.
Undoubtedly, there are some financial situations that are simply disastrous, without any easily clear road out of the hole. It’s understandable how such situations can lead one to despair and a sense of hopelessness, and from that an adoption of dangerous behaviors and habits.

However, the truth is that no situation is hopeless. There is no situation that you can’t fix with proper focus and appropriate assistance from others. Perhaps bankruptcy is the right situation for you – contact a bankruptcy lawyer. Maybe the situation isn’t as bad as you think and can be solved through careful diligence and a strong plan.

The first step here is to talk to someone about it. Reveal everything and ask for their help in getting out of the situation. A true friend – someone you really trust – can be a lifeline in this situation.

But it is not hopeless. It is never hopeless.

I don’t make enough money to make ends meet.
A final excuse that people use to keep themselves from taking action is the excuse that they don’t earn enough to make ends meet. They’ve cut away everything and it still seems impossible. A low income is certainly a big obstacle to overcome – and the solution to it is obvious. Earn more. Look for a higher-paying job. Start a side business. Do something to earn more income.

Many people will then claim that they don’t have the skills or knowledge to do that. Well, if that’s the case, what’s keeping you from building those skills? Take some evening classes. Teach yourself as much as you can. Be an attentive and serious student. You can learn the skills you need to succeed at a higher level.

Don’t let excuses tell you what you can and can’t do. “Rules” like those are made to be broken.

if being happy is a matter of attitude [...] then shouldn’t people be able to make anything work [...] by simply changing their attitude?

Carrie’s question strikes right at the heart of a key question about personal development and success: is a positive attitude enough to succeed?

My answer? No, it’s not. It’s a piece of the puzzle, and quite often it can be the piece that turns failure into success, but alone, a positive attitude isn’t enough to make you succeed.

The Elements of Success
I don’t believe that there is any one recipe for success. Instead, I believe success is the result of a combination of a lot of different factors – and not all of them are needed for success. The more factors you have on your side, the more likely you are to succeed, and positive attitude is just one of those factors. Here are seven additional factors that are also important.

Knowledge A strong body of knowledge about the area in which you wish to succeed is often one of the key building blocks of success. You can build this by pushing yourself – read and try out the foundational materials and push yourself into challenging areas to build your knowledge.

Natural talent Some people are born with a predisposition to succeed in certain areas. Find this out for yourself by trying a lot of different activities and seeing what comes easy to you. The things you do with little or no effort that genuinely impress others are likely very near your natural talent, and natural talent combined with a lot of hard work leads to greatness.

Clear goals and planning Much like a trip, it’s a lot easier to get where you want to go if you know where you’re going and spend the time to plan the route you’ll take to get there. Think about what your definition of success exactly is, then identify some of the things that need to be done to help you move towards it.

Passion An intense, burning desire to dig deep into a particular area is often a sign that you’ll find success there. Much as with your natural talent, the way to find your passion is to touch on a lot of different areas and see what resonates for you.

Focus/consistent effort Hard work is another key to finding success. You don’t become a champion without practicing every day. If you want to succeed in a certain area, work hard in that area and go beyond what others are doing – deliberate practice is one big key.

Luck/opportunity Luck and opportunity also play an important role in success – sometimes things just click due to forces outside your control. You can improve your luck by making as many strong personal contacts as you can and sharing what you have to increase their “luck” and “opportunities.”

Cooperation/support Along with luck comes cooperation – the fact that others are working in small ways to help you succeed rather than hinder you. A spouse telling you that you can do this is going to go a lot further than a spouse telling you you’ll never make it.

The Value of a Positive Attitude
That’s not to say that a positive attitude isn’t a key part of the picture – it is. Believing you can succeed and treating the people around you with a positive attitude as well are both important to helping you find the success you want. However, you’ll be hard pressed to find success even if you have the most sunny optimism if you don’t focus in with some hard work, build your knowledge, plan for what you want, and build other foundational pieces of success.

Here are seven ways to build up your positive attitude.

Make lists of your own positive attributes. Better yet, see if you can get a friend to help you by making a list for you – I made a list like this for a friend once upon a time. Then, keep this list somewhere and look at it regularly. Remind yourself that you have a lot of positive attributes, and think about how you can do things so these attributes are accentuated.

Don’t dwell on your failures. We’re all going to fail sometimes. While it’s useful to reflect on them a bit, it’s not healthy to dwell on them. Identify mistakes made, figure out how to correct them, and then move on. You’re not defined by your failures.

Make lists of the successes and positive attributes of those around you – and remind them of those successes when you can. Make a list of all of your regular coworkers and contacts and list a few positive attributes about each one – their knowledge, their insight, their communication skills, their logical skills, and so on. Then, be sure to focus on those skills – the good things they bring to the table – with every interaction.

Avoid thinking negatively about others – if you find yourself going negative, look for their positive attributes. No one’s perfect. Sometimes people are going to rub you the wrong way. Other times, they’ll do something not up to snuff, or they’ll engage in behavior you don’t agree with. Don’t focus on that. Instead, think about their positive attributes – and let them know you see them in a positive way. Knowing that others see you as positive and look up to you is often a big push to get people to act in a positive fashion.

Never speak negatively of others. It’s often tempting in the lunchroom to engage in snarky talk and office politics. Avoid it at all costs if you can. You’re a lot better off interjecting with a “Hey, they’re not all that bad…” and a positive comment than to pile on the negativity. If you can’t say anything positive, don’t say anything at all.

Surround yourself with positive people. If the people around you are constantly negative in their comments and actions towards others, it’s time to look for a different circle. Focus on building friendships with people that engage you (and others) in positive ways.

Reduce your time spent in activities that make you feel bad about yourself. Then, fill that time with activities that are positive. For example, if you spend hours each night watching television programs that make you feel bad about yourself at night when you climb into bed, look for other forms of entertainment – uplifting and educational programming. Or, turn off the television entirely and engage in exercise or other activities that increase a positive feeling about yourself.

Over the years, we’ve found a bunch of little techniques to turn what could be an expensive day trip into something much cheaper. If you invest some time and forethought into it, you can easily make a day at the state fair into a very cheap and fun family activity for everyone. Here are eleven tactics to try.

Buy advance tickets …
Get tickets well in advance. If you don’t know where to buy advance tickets, check online at the website for the fair and find out. Around here, grocery stores sell the tickets, usually at half the price of what you would have to pay at the gate. That means our family of four is able to get in the door at the State Fair for $10 rather than $20.

… or consider going on a discount day
Another option to consider is attending the fair on a day where the price is reduced, usually in the middle of the week. For example, the 2008 Iowa State Fair was free on the first day until 8:30 AM, plus you got a free corn dog upon entry. This encouraged an enormous showing of people that day, of course, but you can’t argue with the price. Again, check out the website of the fair well in advance so you can be aware of any discounted admission periods.

Make a full day out of it
While this was difficult for us this year with two young children who needed naps, most years we make a full day out of the trip to the fair, intending to get in the door not long after sunrise and leaving at sunset. Doing this maximizes the value of your admission, as you get many hours of entertainment out of your ticket instead of just a few.

Eat a filling meal before you go
The best tactic for making the “full day” work is by eating a filling meal before you go, so you’re less tempted to buy overpriced food while actually inside the fair. That means a big breakfast – make some pancakes, for example, and have some eggs with them. The goal is to keep you full (and full of energy) through a long day that will be spent mostly outside during the summer.

Bring your own water bottle
Along those same lines, bring a water bottle for each member of your group. Almost all fairgrounds have water fountains where you can fill your bottles. This eliminates the need to spend money on beverages during the day, again drastically reducing the expense of a day at the fair.

Do some advance planning
If you do some advance planning, you can not only make sure you hit all of the most interesting stuff at the fair in a day. Look not only at a schedule of events for the day, but also find a list of all the continuing exhibits. That way, you can make a list of all the stuff you want to hit and even plan something of a route through the fairgrounds so you don’t have to backtrack much.

Not only that, you can also make sure to go on a day where a particularly interesting event occurs. My family attended the Iowa State Fair this past Friday, August 8, where we got to see John McCain giving a stump speech. Here’s a picture:

If you can’t spot him right off, he’s right next to the first blue banner, near the middle of the picture, wearing a navy colored hat. Since we had small children, we chose to stay at the back of the crowd.

Doing these things ensures you hit all the interesting stuff you want to see at the fair without missing things or backtracking, making the day more enjoyable (and likely making it possible to see more things).

Park where it’s free and take public transportation to get close
To attend the State Fair, my wife and I usually parked at a friends’ house in Des Moines, then use the free shuttle bus running through town to go to the fair. This meant we saved the cost of parking near the fair, which can often become very expensive. This little move might take a bit longer, but it shaves some extra cash off of the trip (and often makes it very easy to meet up with friends and attend the Fair together).

Focus on the free stuff
While there are exhibits and events that cost extra at the fair, there’s so much free stuff to see that you shouldn’t bother with those items and instead focus on the free stuff. We thoroughly enjoyed many of the free items at the Fair this year, including the butter cow:

(Yes, a cow made out of butter.) Our son also got heavily into the wildlife exhibits – here he is, enjoying an aquarium display:

Beyond that, we visited the Iowa Public Television booth (where my son had an awkward conversation with Clifford the Big Red Dog), the Republican Party and Democratic Party areas, a petting zoo, a demo station for the video game Rock Band (which I’m very bad at on the drums), and a bunch of other things I’m forgetting. All of this was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone (even our infant daughter) until nap time approached.

Share the treats widely
One of the big features of the Iowa State Fair is the plethora of … interesting food items for sale everywhere, tempting you to try them out. If you’ve eaten a big meal (as suggested above), fair foods are much less of a temptation, but if you must indulge, just buy one item and share it with everyone. Here’s an example:

Deep fried pineapple on a stick, indeed. We were intrigued, but passed that one up. Instead, we let our son pick out an item to share and he chose a very good hand-dipped ice cream cone that we all shared. That gave us all a tasty treat for a pretty low price.

Keep an open eye for freebies – but be sensible about what you take
At many state fairs and other such events, there are tons of opportunities to pick up free items of all kinds, but just because something is free doesn’t mean it’s worth taking. I attempted to count the number of giveaways I spotted and I lost count somewhere north of two hundred in just under three hours.

However, you can find worthwhile stuff if you look carefully. My wife and I got two free canvas bags for using at farmers markets, a free chamois for car washing (which will go in the rag box, but be a useful rag), and a free copy of the day’s Des Moines Register. My son picked up a few coloring books and, best of all, two different Clifford the Big Red Dog books, which have already been read several times. Nothing breathtaking, but worthwhile stuff and the price is right. Just be sensible about it and take only stuff you’ll actually use.

Always get stamped for readmission
A final tip: always get a readmission stamp when you leave. You never know why you might need to go back into the fairgrounds – and if a reason comes up, you don’t want to have to pay for another ticket. Follow this, even if you believe you’re leaving for the day. You may have accidentally left an item inside, or you may remember that you promised someone a picture of the Butter Cow, and you certainly don’t want to pay admission again, do you?

Fairs are a great way to have some family fun in the summer, and they don’t have to be very expensive at all. Have a good time!