Enough of this cutting back, reduce your expectations teaching.  There is so much more to life to be able to enjoy.  What I absolutely don’t understand is why the immediate belief and common message when things get tough is to cut back.  There are two sides to every story and the other one is to expand.  Expand your resources, your income, your connections and your options. 

But, if you only look at these opposite views as ends on a teeter totter, then the lever in the middle is obviously an essential component for success.  It’s the lever that brings the balance, the fun and the results. 

Sure, look at where you can streamline your expenses and look for ways to expand your options, but more importantly, remember that whenever you have opposing views, you have stress and struggle and a dilemma about which direction to make your priority.  I know at first it might seem easier to cut back because you can see the numbers on the paper.  It’s more of a test of faith to set out to expand your income and create more options, so this is why cutting back seems like the first plan.  If having an immediate reward that you can see is important, then that’s the reason why it will seem like less of a gamble to get another job to make more money.   

However, if you cut back, stop enjoying what you have and stop rewarding yourself with the desires and lifestyle that’s important to you, and simultaneously take more time away from your true priorities, you will have put yourself on the equivalent of a crash financial diet.  The only way to truly win at the financial teeter totter decision making process is to create the lever.  This is the entire system of considering all the important areas of your life and systematically reviewing your lifestyle to find ways to streamline, and to expand at the same time. 

Get the printable version here.