They bet you will make a mistake. They're usually right.

I was blazing though my food shopping route today, working the plan that I had put together on Sunday.  I had my sale items listed by store with the coupons organized in their respective store envelope.  Every shopping trip is a game to me, who will get the better of this transaction, Them or Me?
Have I prepared to win, or am I in a rush, and therefore will my time become more valuable than my money, so I will overpay for items because I did not properly prepare?  I hate to lose...

I was reminded of two key factors in this game:

Discipline is an easy one for this exercise.  Did I hold myself accountable to do the proper planning to win, or did I not?  If you don't have the proper game plan, how can you expect to win consistently?

Motivation is important to excel at anything.  "What's my motivation?"  Saving money, family, college savings, etc., those are great but can sometimes feel a little too abstract to keep me fired up for the daily fight.  I need some raw meat... "good vs. evil", that should do it!

You don't have to look too hard to find it.  I remembered today that I had a $3 coupon at Walgreens (similar to CVS Extra Care Bucks) good for use on my next purchase with a few days before expiration.  If you're not organized, that little piece of paper will get lost.  Have you ever lost track of a mail-in rebate offer?  They usually win these games.

They are betting that you will make a mistake.  Maybe you will lose the paper, or miss the deadline.  Perhaps you will just get too busy and forget about it.  The odds are in their favor.  They wouldn't keep running these programs if the odds were in YOUR favor.  They are making a promise of future payment that they usually don't have to make good on.
Advantage: Them.

When we game plan, demonstrate the discipline to stick to that plan, and find our motivation... We tips the scales back in our favor.  Advantage: US.

How do you stay fired up?