Live Below Your Means: As my grandmother said, "You can't spend money and have it too." Suze Orman's main message for living what she calls the 'New American Dream' is to Live Below Your Means and to try to raise you FICO score without using credit cards. I think it's terrific advice. As Thoreau famously said: "We make ourselves rich by making our wants few." This is a simple trick you can use to reframe your economic reality or attitude towards consumerism. You have the power to turn feeling like you have 'less-than' into a system of belief that you are unfettered and free. There is liberty in living a simple life. And we all know that money doesn't buy happiness. Again, the reality of poverty and hunger goes well beyond simply shifting your 'explanatory style.' I do not intend to be a Pollyanna or play down the brutality of poverty.
I made the decision to purposely lead a simpler, less materialistic life a few years ago and it is the best thing I ever did. Just before the global financial crisis of 2008 I had a gut instinct that I wanted to get out of Manhattan. The east village, where I had lived for over two decades, had become really depressing to me. I felt trapped in an environment that was no longer gritty in a way that I found interesting. Everything had become either really bourgeois on the one-hand or really poverty stricken on the other, and I wanted out. There was nothing sexy about being a 'starving artist' or in my case 'starving athlete' in Manhattan anymore.
So, I called the landlord of my rent-stabilized apartment and said that I wanted to break the lease which I had had since the 1980s. I told the woman on the phone that I was going to take what I call a 'Things I lost in the Fire' approach to moving out. I just wanted to go in quickly and grab things that I really loved and leave everything else behind.
I told her that I was living in Provincetown for the summer and was going to take the bus down to NY with a duffle bag and a milk crate. I would only carry out with me what I could fit in the duffle back and the milk crate. We both laughed about the whole concept and had a fun conversation. When we met in person on 'moving day' we really clicked. I asked her to please go over to my apartment with her friends and family and take anything they wanted...I left behind thousands and thousands of dollars of 'stuff' but I have no regrets. It was the most liberating thing I've ever done.
5. Close Knit Human Bonds: The key to self-reliance isn't just about being healthy and strong-or having financial security-it is also about maintaining close-knit human bonds. Early in my athletic career I thought I was completely self-reliant and didn't need anyone else to help me achieve my dreams. I was wrong. Once I got into ultra-endurance racing-where the athlete relies on a support crew to reach the finish line-I learned a valuable life lesson about how much we need to stick together. Maintaining close-knit relationships takes effort, but it is probably the most important foundation to creating true self-reliance.
As individuals and a nation we are only as strong as our weakest link. We need to come together and support each other. All ships rise in a rising tide. You can change the tides by setting an example of self-reliance and optimism that will rub off on your friends and family, and your neighbors and so on, and so on.... Make it happen by starting today!
