I Should Really Take My Own Advice!

“Small, consistent steps yield exponential changes in your business” is a mantra of mine. It’s funny, though, how I forget to translate that into other areas of my life.

Case in point: I have been wanting to get a better handle on how we spend our money.  After all, it’s about making your money work for you right?

Initially, I made the commitment to be more conscious of how I spent money each day. It wasn’t about reducing spending or making big changes, but just about being aware.  In doing so, I began making different choices. During the week I like to stop by the local market for soup during lunch.  Often that soup ends up costing $30+, though, because other things kept making their way into the basket.  Taking the time to be conscious about my spending made me realize that I could just swing by my house, which was just as convenient and grab something there at a much lower cost.  Making that choice felt empowering

Fast forward to a week later: chatting with a girlfriend of mine, who is a financial planner, about money and she recommended that I take 25% of all incoming money and put it in a savings / tax account and then divide what is left into 3 categories such as living expenses, business expenses and retirement savings. Admittedly this is very sound advice and makes a lot of sense.  However, I found myself getting stressed out.  How do I decide which expenses go in which category? What if there isn’t enough money to fund each category? What if Gary and I don’t agree on all of this?  I  got myself all spun out and rather than moving forward I gave up and went shopping.  While I now have some lovely dresses, it was definitely not an act of conscious spending.

After a day or two of feeling stressed out the light bulb went on. I was taking too big of a step, and pushing too far out of my comfort zone. As a result, my mind was pushing back.  It’s what I mentor agents on every single day and yet I forgot how it applies to my own life.

The right step is the one that feels empowering. For me it is conscious spending.

What areas are you fighting yourself in and even sabotaging yourself? The common instinct is to go for the big change, but take a step back. Look for the small one that feels good and moves you forward. If you can honestly say at the end of the day that you moved forward a bit from where you were yesterday then it is a success. Remember the tortoise and the hare.  Slow and steady wins the race.