I’ve always been fascinated by people and their perceptions of the world because their concepts and thoughts are reliable indicators and predictors of how they might be creating their realities.

For example, when I’m in the checkout line at my favorite grocery store, the cashier always greets me and asks whether I have found everything I need.

I’ll respond appropriately and then ask the individual about himself or herself. Often the answer I get is something like,”… I’ll be better in and hour and a half because that’s when I get off work …” or “… I can’t stand the weather … I wish it would stop raining …”

Since my life mission speaks to helping people achieve financial freedom and prosperity, I will generally offer a nugget or even a question in response.

You probably already know this, but most of us use expressions that we’ve picked up from authority figures such as parents, celebrities or sports figures.

My mother had an interesting saying that I heard countless times while growing up. It was, “ … that is an up with which I will not put …”

Translated, it means: that is not acceptable to me and I won’t tolerate it.

As you sit there and read this blog post, ask yourself what you are allowing into your life that is not acceptable.

For example, are you tolerating:

• Too much credit card debt and not enough income?

• Too much job and not enough fulfillment?

• Too many personal finance arguments and not enough collaboration?

You’re intelligent enough to know that one of the easiest steps to financial planning is to get an accurate picture of where your money goes. Simply keep track of your spending for a month. That’s right. Grab a notebook or create a spreadsheet and put in everything that you’ve spent money on. Be honest, don’t be ashamed and do it.

After you’ve created this thirty day personal finance ‘lookback’, ask yourself this question:

“Where can I find money so I can get out of debt, invest and build wealth?"

If your answer is, I’m already maximizing my investment opportunities, then congratulations!

But if your answer is, "I’m living paycheck to paycheck and I don’t have extra money", allow me to introduce you to some of your money ‘thieves’.

Picture yourself five years from now … what do you want your personal finance picture to look like?

How much money will you have saved? What will your children have learned from you about financial planning? Where will you and your spouse or significant other be on the path to financial freedom?

These are all wonderful questions to ponder.

As you’ve probably figured out by reading several of my previous Keyboard-Culture blog posts, I’m a big believer in being the architect of your own reality. That’s how I’ve been able to achieve many of the things I’m proud of today.

Let me share a technique that has been proven to help people reach incredible levels of success. I call it creating a prosperity picture™.

We’ve all made personal finance decisions that we later regretted. How many times have you said, “… if I had only known then what I know now, everything would be different …”

About twenty years ago I sold my electric guitar. I hated to part with it but I needed the money to pay bills. I also felt that someday I would be able to replace it. I knew the guitar was a collectible when I sold it.

The buyer paid me nine hundred dollars, which was a lot of money back then. Today that same guitar is worth more than ten-thousand dollars!

Do I regret my decision? Absolutely! The choice to sell was made out of quiet desperation because I had no savings and I was doing a very good job of personal finance mismanagement.