One step
How action is better for you even if you fail.
Many times what keeps us from starting is not having the entire plan.
We won’t do anything because we can’t see everything yet.
And when we can’t see it all we think that moving will result in failure, so we just stay still. Or should I say, stuck.
I write about building a life of peace, confidence, and less stress through wise management of your money.
Do you know what I don’t know everything about?
Wise management of your money in order to create peace, confidence, and less stress.
Do you know what I have a hard time with?
Starting before I feel fully educated on something. Starting before I’ve mapped out and can see the entire plan. Allowing fear of failure to keep me from doing something.
Do you know what I do know?
I’ve learned more from doing than I ever did from sitting still and gathering information.
Today let’s extend the conversation from this post on taking action.
Your growth, your progress, and the lives of the people around you depend on your willingness to take a step. Today.
The view
“Many situations in life are similar to going on a hike: the view changes once you start walking. You don’t need all the answers right now. New paths will reveal themselves if you have the courage to get started.”
I recently read this quote that just about perfectly describes our premise that clarity depends on your movement.
So many of us have a fear issue. Fear of failing. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of the unknown. We develop enough fear that we paralyze ourselves from taking even a single step.
This image of taking a hike is so helpful to shift your mindset and produce enough courage to move. Let’s try it out.
Imagine you are going for a walk in a place you’re familiar with. There are things you can’t see when you first begin that become visible once you start moving. Maybe there’s a mountain range in the distance you can only see once you emerge from a wooded path. There is a creek that you can hear in the distance that only reveals itself once you step onto the bridge that crosses it. There are your favorite homes you like to walk by and dream about that uncover themselves around each twist and turn of the path.
Your view of money works just the same.
You will experience clarity and understanding, but it requires your movement. There are things that can’t be seen and concepts that you won’t be able to fully understand until you start walking the path.
Breaking down your money
The process I teach takes time. It requires work. It demands your movement. This is the case anywhere you want to see change.
Personal finances can also feel so confusing. As simple as I attempt to make it, there is so much to learn. There are so many moving parts. So many different elements. So many decisions to make. So many questions to consider. So much that is unique to you. So much you might never fully understand.
So much that it can keep you from ever starting at all. You wake up one day realizing decades have passed without you having ever done anything decisive to build the financial life you know you have wanted.
But…
Here you are today.
With an incredible opportunity.
Failure > Stagnation
Let’s dig a little deeper into a fear of failing as the driver for not making a move.
Many of us place so much value around our money that we begin to believe a wrong decision is the end of the world. We convince ourselves that there won’t be a way out if what we do doesn’t work. So the better option becomes to not do anything at all. This doesn’t, however, stop life from costing money. We have to keep spending to pay for the life we’re choosing to live.
The stagnation side
Here’s why stagnation is worse. You end up never addressing whether the life you’re working to fund is producing progress or not. Maybe you’re living below your means and saving enough. Maybe you’re not. The point is that you don’t know. You’re stuck in the cycle of making money and then spending it with no real plan.
Maybe you feel like you’re walking the path we’ve been talking about, but it’s like you’re doing it with your head down and your eyes closed. There’s no growth or purpose found here. You can’t measure what you can’t see.
The failure side
Doing nothing can be more detrimental than doing something and failing.
Here’s why action, even if you fail, is better. The failure will teach you something and can be corrected. And you’ll be better for it.
There’s also less riding on making a move than you might think. I have personally dealt with some crazy financial circumstances that I was sure would take me out.
But I’m here on the other side to tell you…there is a way through.
There aren’t many failures that can’t be turned around.
You can fail. And learn. And grow. And adjust. And grow in wisdom. And do it right the next time.
I’ve heard it said that the goal isn’t to make no mistakes. It’s to make new mistakes.
New mistakes mean you have access to new opportunities that you couldn’t see until you moved in the first place. Your new position has revealed to you clarity, understanding, experience, and wisdom to apply toward the next step.
Stagnation does not do that.
What’s the worst that can happen?
As an avid golf watcher, I recently heard one of the best in the world, Rory McIlory, talk about this.
He was speaking to how he still gets nervous on the first tee as he gets ready to attempt hitting a golfball in front of thousands of fans.
He said sometimes he’ll ask himself the question, “What’s the worst that can happen? If I send it way left, I’ll have to punch out of the trees. If I send it way right into the water, I’ll have to take a drop with a penalty stroke.
His mentality was this: either way I have a way out of it. Good drive, bad drive, or something in between. There’s a next step I can take. I’ll see my options better once I get up to wherever the ball landed. But I’ll have something I can do next. Something I’ll learn. Information on what is the next best step forward. But I won’t know until I swing the club and take the walk.
Try this with your money.
Maybe you overspend in a budget category. Maybe your investment goes down. Maybe your emergency fund should have had an extra month of living expenses in it after the thing that just happened to you.
Either way, you can adjust. You can earn more again. You can change your lifestyle. There is a way.
Hike with someone else
The post on taking action I mentioned earlier references a conversation I had with someone I coached on opening her Roth 401k with an employer match.
Three months after getting the information I found out she hadn’t made the call. Three months it sat in her to-do list. It turns out it was the very thing we’ve been talking about keeping her from taking one step.
It was fear of embarrassment due to a lack of knowledge around the subject. It was fear of failing to make her way through the conversation. Perceived inadequacy kept winning the battle in her mind.
What made her push through?
I sat next to her while she talked on the phone.
I mostly said nothing. Answered a question or two.
It wasn’t about me specifically. It was about someone else being there for her. To help her do what she wanted to do. To help her follow-through.
One phone call changed her financial trajectory permanently.
She’s getting a 4% employer match now, automated into good index funds. A wealth-builder is officially in the making.
Can I give you a secret super-power to taking one step at a time?
Get someone to hold you accountable.
One other person who you trust and knows what you’re working on will help you get moving. It could be your difference-maker.
I wrote about this subject in greater detail. For more context and practical tools to create this relationship with someone, check it out below:
One small step
I know how hard it can be to move, especially when you feel unqualified to do so. But we live in a day where we need movers more than ever. We need people who will commit to leading themselves and their families well.
We need people who will find the courage to drop their pride and step into a season of coaching that helps them produce real progress.
Start with good intentions. Develop and record a set of values you want to build your life on like good stewardship, generosity, and wisdom. These are a few solid ones to begin.
Once you have them, don’t get distracted by whatever is screaming the loudest around you.
Call your shot. Strategize around the values you’ve determined. Take the first step. You can afford to fail.
Your questions will be answered as you move. You’ll get better in the process.
And the system you build will produce what it’s designed to produce.
Author Clayton Christensen says it like this:
“Good intentions are not enough—you’re not implementing the strategy that you intend if you don’t spend your time, your money, and your talent in a way that is consistent with your intentions. In your life, there are going to be constant demands for your time and attention. How are you going to decide which one of those demands gets resources?”
The other side of your step
I’ve personally experienced everything I’ve written about after taking a step.
Clarity. Understanding. Affirmation. And so much more.
Your money decisions will work the same way.
You know you need to start.
The knowing is simple.
Facing your first budget feels hard. Do it anyway.
Don’t worry about completing the whole process at once. Or even understanding the whole process up front. Just solve for one thing. Then enjoy the clarity that comes on the other side of that step.
Then after that?
Take another step.
The Club that helps you move
It’s in light of my own journey that I’ve set out to provide simple steps for you to make real progress.
Message me and tell me what step you’re working on right now. I’d love to cheer you on. I’d also be honored to point you toward a tool or resource that could be helpful.
The Wayfinder Money Club exists to help you take one step at a time. These steps are designed to help you build a financial lifestyle that is purposeful and sustainable. It’s mostly automated, so you can focus on what’s more important. It also keeps you close, so you are consistently aware.
Click the image below and scroll down to the foundation to get started.
