You tend to hear the same company lines over and over.

“We have to focus on taking care of existing business first.”  “It pays the bills.”

“Chasing new ideas has to take a back seat to keeping the lights on.”  Etc, etc, etc…

I’ve been thinking about this line of reasoning lately.

I think new ideas for a company are as important as water is to life.  Without new ideas, your business dies.  Maybe not at first.  A company might be able to do things the same way and last for years.  But without constant attention to fostering the future, eventually you run out of future.

Take the American auto industry for example.  The “Big Three” have done things the same way for a long time because it worked for a long time.  They didn’t give enough attention to new ideas, new trends, and new demands.  And we, the tax payers, are going to pay dearly for their mistakes.  In fact, I think we are currently witnesses the disintegration of the free market system our country is built on (but I’ll save that for another day).

My point is that the U.S. auto industry should have been coming up with new ideas for sustainable transportation for the past 20 years.  Instead, they focused on building big Saudi-oil guzzling SUV’s because that’s what was selling at the moment.  Now they’re scrambling (and failing) to to come up with a plan for the future.

What are you doing everyday to generate and pursue new ideas?

A few weeks ago, we went to a Christmas party at the home of some of my favorite people in the world.  We always have a blast–especially this year.  The food was amazing and their house is perfect for entertaining.  Everyone had a great time.

This couple’s net worth is more than most people could accumulate in 10 lifetimes.  But what I love about them is how unassuming they are.  Despite their wealth, they drive average used cars, rarely eat at fancy restaurants, and, as I discovered coincidentally the other night, they eat generic breakfast cereal.

Why would they do this?  Why would a couple whose finances are in no way affected by the cost of name brand verses generic choose to buy generic?  I highly doubt they just like the generic cereal more.

I think the reason they choose the cheaper cereal has to do with a deeply rooted financial discipline.  A discipline that we, consumerism-crazed Americans, have lost.  We fantasize about wealth as a means to the good life, to have the finer things, to finally not have to settle for inferior products (Darn it, I want Lucky Charms, not Marshmallow Mateys!)

But this couple CAN afford the finer things, yet they choose not to.  And I’m not just talking about buying name brand breakfast cereal.  They could afford just about anything, yet the discipline they have in making big financial decisions trickles all the way down to the smallest decisions.

A lifetime of small decisions makes all the difference, in finances and in life.