This article in the New York Times captured an insight I’ve always felt is right but had never been able to consciously formulate: that, whether you are managing your waistline or a company’s bottom line, you will be far more successful if you focus on the intrinsic behavior and culture of your eating and of your company’s spending behavior.
As the article states:
In fact, the best strategy is not to think about it as budgeting at all. Instead, set up broad goals and automate all savings and other priorities where you can.
It is far more effective to create a culture in your company that prizes resourcefulness and educates your team to invest only on all that is necessary, and at the best terms, than to set rules for each line item. Of course as you grow, budgets are necessary. But team leaders should know how to evaluate and seize opportunities in an entrepreneurial fashion, even if they don’t necessarily fit in a “budget”, so long as they actually show they can pay off. And vice-versa, just because you have a budget, you should not spend funds without ensuring that the particular expense is cost-effective, advisable, and procured on the best possible terms.
Dieting is similarly artificial. You can endure it for a while but then regress to your habits. Learning how to eat healthful food whose ingredients you can see and pronounce is far more effective in the long run. Here is a blog entry that provides some basic guidelines.
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