FIRST—TRY HARDER—Just work harder, longer, more.\u00a0 Most Americans are in this group.\u00a0 Times are tough.\u00a0 Times are uncertain.\u00a0 Hold onto what you\u2019ve got.\u00a0 If you have a job, do anything to keep it.\u00a0 If you have to, get a second job.\u00a0 Sacrifice (even your dreams) to put food on the table and pay bills.\u00a0 Hope things get better.\u00a0 Don\u2019t waste your limited time and energy to think about things you can\u2019t do anything about anyway.<\/p>\n
SECOND—TRY SMARTER—Work smarter, not harder.\u00a0 Pick the best advisor and learn how to beat the system.\u00a0 Get a job that is recession-proof.\u00a0 Make only guaranteed investments.\u00a0 Learn from others\u2019 mistakes.\u00a0 Play your cards right, and you don\u2019t have to sacrifice.\u00a0 Believe in yourself.\u00a0 Be confident.\u00a0 Don\u2019t share all your secrets, and you\u2019ll come out ahead.<\/p>\n
THIRD—TRY WISER—Wiser is usually confused with working harder and working smarter and believing in yourself.\u00a0 Truth is, wiser includes working hard and working smart, but not depending on yourself for success.\u00a0 \u201cWiser\u201d is not even a common word these days because it suggests principles from outside ourselves.\u00a0 It implies learning something from older people—people that younger folks may not consider successful.<\/p>\n
This calls for another paragraph.\u00a0 In America we\u2019ve gone for half a century of progress, mostly smooth sailing, and a universally accepted formula:\u00a0 get a good job, get good stuff, get good insurance, get a good retirement, it\u2019s yours because you earned it, enjoy it because you deserve it.<\/p>\n
There have been very few glitches to this pattern for most people, until now.\u00a0 We hear that the current economic policies are unsustainable, yet individuals seem to have few choices for fundamental change.\u00a0 If the whole system blows, we\u2019ll just deal with it then.\u00a0 In the meantime, we try harder and think we\u2019re trying smarter.<\/p>\n
So, where does this leave trying wiser?<\/p>\n
If we took time to stop, sit, and listen to older people who learned contentment apart from the current focus on finance, we would be better prepared for the days ahead.\u00a0 The greatest challenge for older people is finding anyone who will appreciate their wisdom, receive it, and apply it.<\/p>\n
If you find a person who has learned to live out \u201cGodliness with contentment,\u201d do everything you can to build a relationship with that person and spend a lot of time with him\/her.<\/p>\n
If you find a person who can honestly say, \u201cHaving food and clothing, let us be content,\u201d choose to let that person influence you.<\/p>\n
Greater speed does not contribute to wisdom.<\/p>\n
Hard work may contribute to wisdom.<\/p>\n
Smart does not equal wise.<\/p>\n
\u201cFear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FIRST—TRY HARDER—Just work harder, longer, more.\u00a0 Most Americans are in this group.\u00a0 Times are tough.\u00a0 Times are uncertain.\u00a0 Hold onto what you\u2019ve got.\u00a0 If you have a job, do anything to keep it.\u00a0 If you have to, get a second job.\u00a0 Sacrifice (even your dreams) to put food on the table and pay bills.\u00a0 Hope […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2,3,4,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational","category-faith_based","category-family","category-financial","category-inspire_lifter","category-political-cultural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1925,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924\/revisions\/1925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}