• Tweet ^[1]
• Email ^[2]

• Tweet ^[1]
• Email ^[2]

I’m a little over thirty years old and only recently have I realized something about myself – I like to figure things out. I like to find things that I’m “not good at” and change it. Three years ago, I took up the infuriating sport of golf because it was something I knew I wasn’t good at. In a couple years, I’ve gone from shooting in the 110-120 to more 85-95. I spent a lot of time in the 100s before dropping… it was a long road with a lot of practices. For non golfers, that moves you from the “I’m always frustrated when I play golf” group into the “I’m not awesome but I can go out and play, have fun, and not get angry.”

About seven months ago, I started running. I never ran when I was younger. I sucked (and probably still do) at running. I thought of myself as “not a runner” and seven months ago I thought I’d change that. I see all sorts of people running, why can’t I? Running is tough. It’s tough on your ankles, your knees, your hips, your leg muscles, and your chest. I decided to put aside pride and start slow, especially since it was freezing out, and build my way up. I’m not going to blow away times but I’ve been able to consistently increase my distances and decrease my times to the point where I can run several miles at speeds that make me happy.

What does this have to do with personal finance? It’s no different than learning something new, whether it’s golf or running or whatever. It’s going to be slow at first until you build up momentum, get your systems all set up, and finally hit your stride. Don’t get frustrated early on when the gains aren’t there, if you endure, you will succeed.

Here are this week’s finds:

• SavvySugar at Wisebread shares a nine thrifty, meaningful gifts for Mom ^[3] in case you were a procrastinator and hadn’t gotten your Mom something yet. These ideas are light on the wallet but make up for it in time.
• Joan Otto, Man Vs. Debt’s community manager, shares how she hustled to earn a few extra bucks ^[4] to help pay down nearly $90,000 in credit card debt. Credit card debt is easy to accumulate and extremely hard to eliminate.
• One of our writers, Miranda, shares five of the biggest lies freelance clients could be telling you ^[5] on her site. I think the people who do this are shady (that tell the lies), there’s no reason to do this if you plan on building a legitimate business for the long haul. With successful businesses, everyone wins together.
• Want to land your dream job? J Money shares his 6 tips to landing your dream job ^[6]. These tips work for anyone trying to land any job.

Have a great weekend!

(Photo: jdhancock ^[7])