Nearly every one in this business world seems to be engaged in the
occupation of "catching up." Nearly everyone is a little behind in the
matter of finances.
As soon as one gets across the stream and is on dry land and has his
bills all paid, then he takes on new responsibilities and goes deeper
in debt.
It is a very hard game, this catching up. The game of existence is very
easy to play when you are caught up.
We have tramped through the forests of the great West, and we have
invariably found that the pace-makers or leaders are the least tired at
night, while the followers or those who are behind trying to catch up,
are the ones who are most fatigued.
Some people are habitually behind "with their hauling," as the
Missourians say. No matter how their salaries may increase they are
proportionately behind with their hauling all the time. When an employe
gets $50.00 a month he is owing $75.00, he is working hard at the
catching-up game all the time. He figures that if he only got $75.00 a
month, he could apply the $25.00 extra and could catch up in three
months. The theory is all right but the practice is not, for when this
individual gets $75.00 a month, instead of applying that $25.00 extra
to catching up, he finds that he wants better neckties and better
underwear, and makes greater expenditures all along the line, so
instead of wiping out that $75.00 debt he had when earning $50.00 a
month, he finds himself $150.00 in debt on his $75.00 salary.
This catching up has a bad influence. It worries the individual; he
does not do his best work.
When you have all your bills paid and a surplus of $500 in the bank,
your head is higher, your chest is broader, your backbone stiffer, and
you have a confidence that helps you take on greater responsibilities.
To be in debt is to be under obligations to your friends, and it kills
off those strong qualities which you naturally possess but which warp
when you are catching up. The man who is catching up cringes instead of
standing erect, he is suppliant instead of dominant. He is disturbed by
little things, and in the meantime the catching up process is tearing
down his nervous system.
Get caught up with your hauling. Whatever your income is, save a
percentage of it. Do not mistake us in thinking that we are preaching
the old sermon of the savings bank, which is, save your pennies and the
dollars will take care of themselves, for our friend Grizzly Pete of
Frozen Dog, Idaho, says: "Save your pennies, the dollars will be blown
in by your heirs."
No man gets rich through mere saving, but it is the training the man
gets in saving the pennies that gives him a good idea of values of
things and shows him the importance of having a reserve.
If the boss is extravagant in little things, the employe multiplies the
extravagance.
If you are always catching up while you are an employe you will always
be catching up while you are boss. If you are always saving and putting
by a reserve while you are an employe, you will be doing the same thing
when you are a boss. The principle is the same. It is merely a question
of figures.
Do not take on financial responsibilities until you see your way clear
to meet the responsibilities, and in addition to meeting them, see to
it that you have made an allowance for good measure.
Catching up calls for double effort and double work.