> the amount of sheer will, determination and delayed gratification needed to stay on the path for long enough to leave penury is beyond the realm of most peoples ability.
I don't think it is just delayed gratification that is a challenge, I think it is how a little bit of saved or scrounged up money can't change your circumstances.
When you're behind on rent two months, about to get an eviction court mark on your record, have collections hounding you or an impending bankruptcy proceeding, doing things like buying a pleasurable consumer electronic or pricy clothes doesn't change that, it doesn't make a dent in that. Your money either goes in a black hole of interest payments and mounting obligations, or it goes into a nice escape that even the bankruptcy judge can't take from you. They probably won't even bother with your consumer goods.
So until the utility of the money amounts changes, along with the speed the money amounts come in, there is no point in pretending that the circumstance will change due to your own discipline.
People are going to be just as apathetic and critical of your circumstance either way if you have blemishes on your credit or have trouble keeping a lease for a home. It doesn't matter whether you saved marvelously or spent frivolously.
I don't think it is just delayed gratification that is a challenge, I think it is how a little bit of saved or scrounged up money can't change your circumstances.
When you're behind on rent two months, about to get an eviction court mark on your record, have collections hounding you or an impending bankruptcy proceeding, doing things like buying a pleasurable consumer electronic or pricy clothes doesn't change that, it doesn't make a dent in that. Your money either goes in a black hole of interest payments and mounting obligations, or it goes into a nice escape that even the bankruptcy judge can't take from you. They probably won't even bother with your consumer goods.
So until the utility of the money amounts changes, along with the speed the money amounts come in, there is no point in pretending that the circumstance will change due to your own discipline.
People are going to be just as apathetic and critical of your circumstance either way if you have blemishes on your credit or have trouble keeping a lease for a home. It doesn't matter whether you saved marvelously or spent frivolously.