If you aren’t where you want to be, the problem is your choices. - M.J. DeMarco

When it comes to money management, most people live like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. They cower in a shabby trailer, shrilling about “my precious” and how it must be guarded with dear life. Such is the existence of someone consumed by the frugality scam — the belief that obsessive expense reduction, penny-pinching, and experiential deprivation will someday pay off in the opposite: rich life experiences, freedom, and abundance. The frugality scam is like chopping off your head and bragging you’ll never suffer migraines again.

Through her breakthrough research, Carol Dweck has given us a defense to a fixed-mindset while promoting its antithesis: growth. Never praise talent or ability, either for yourself or for a child. Instead, praise the process-principle. Praise improvements, habits, growth, and efforts. Praise how far you’ve come, and one day, you’ll praise your results.

As Thomas Edison famously said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.