Financial Fitness
In this Podcast, we cover everyday real-world scenarios applicable to all of us in our day-to-day journey toward financial freedom. of course, that looks different for all of us, but the basic principles remain the same - Be Smart, Be Intentional and Be Different! The last one is my favorite, but it is the hardest for many to master. There are so many distractions in our world telling us to do what feels right and go with the flow, but in the end that won't get you where you want to go. Here we will go on a journey together, and cover every day topics that we all face, in an effort to uncover the truth from the lies, and move ever closer to the goal of financial freedom!
Financial Fitness
S2:Ep6 - Climb Your Mountains!
Climbing a mountain is no walk in the park, but the views from the top are oh so sweet! It all starts with a decision and a commitment to achieve a goal......then its just one step after the next to reach the summit.
Once you're there, no matter how tired you are from the journey, you are rewarded with the view and the reminder of achievement, and you instantly become an inspiration to others who are staring their mountain in the face. You are the one who made it, and now you can help others reach their summit too!!
Romantic Dinner Ideas on a Budget
Raymond House Financial Coaching
Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREE
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Stop Digging a Hole, and Start Climbing Your Mountain!!!
This is such an important point, and is very simple….maybe even too simple. It gets overlooked, and so often ignored or replaced with the short-term and temporary impacts of the world and the influences around us.
The concept is that we are all climbing a mountain! We are all on a different mountain, and the heights vary, but the way to the top is same for all of us. We take it one step at a time…..sometimes we have to go down to go up in order to avoid a dangerous obstacle, or maybe sideways to go around steep terrain, but if we keep taking steps toward the top, then we eventually get there. This is one of the simplest concepts, and is required to understand in order to have financial success and ultimately financial freedom! So why is it that its also the one that is most often ignored or replaced by another idea to try and get to the top without taking even the first step, much less all the rest?
There seems to be a disconnect for all of us when looking forward and upward at our financial mountains. Instead of looking for a path to take, and then begin the journey, we start looking everywhere except up! Maybe we think we will find a helicopter, or an elevator that will make the trip easier, but we all know that for this journey the only way forward and upward in to start walking.
To apply this to our financial fitness concepts, we begin woefully unprepared and feel the pain and the discomfort of the journey almost immediately. This will cause you to start looking for alternatives, and grasp at anything you see that might make the journey easier……but again, we all know that we just need to keep going. There will be opportunities along the way to rest, fuel up, celebrate, recover, and look back on the progress made…..but not if we never start, or if we try shortcuts that cause unexpected results, then we find ourselves back where we started…..or worse……in debt!!!
When this happens (and lets be real…..its happened to all of us)….we now have to find a way out of the hole we have been digging, and only then can we start to climb the mountain. The desire for a shortcut comes back, and we start looking around for an easy button, even though we know intuitively that we just need to start taking steps and moving toward the top of the hole and then the top of the mountain……one step at a time!
SO I said that this is one of the simplest concepts that we need to master, but it may also be one of the most difficult, because it requires a level of discipline that we will never be tested on. What I mean is that this requires you to remain focused on a goal that you will never really achieve, and results that you will never really see…..you just keep repeating a process that produces expected results over time…..the results are your overall financial fitness continuing to improve, and ultimately its your financial legacy that you pass on to future generations in your family and in your community.
It won't happen without that discipline, but you will also never get to truly see the fruits of your labor. I think this is why we tend to look for shortcuts…..we want to see the result…..the final result of all that hard work, but our human imperfect nature kicks in and we look for a way to skip the hard work and see the achievement at the end before we actually get there. Don't you just love how creative our human minds can be….?!?!?
If you could stay focused on the long-game….the really long-game and have a conversation with your future family tree 100 years from now, then you would never waiver from the financial disciplines that we have discussed and you have started to implement, but our minds start thinking about the end, and we want to see it…..so we look for it and find a few things we think will help….and then after a try/fail process, we get back on the path, and start up the mountain again.
I am all for anyone that wants to take actions under the pretense that it is helping achieve goals…..but remember from season one that our goals need to support our values and our actions need to align us with our goals! I say it this way because if we simplify the goals and the values to reach the mountaintop and to provide financial support and security to future generations of our family as well as contributing and supporting the growth of our communities, then the side trips that cause us all to stumble are never in support of the values, and they most certainly don't align with our goals.
So this season is all about practical/tactical/basics that you can apply to your financial fitness routine. This one is maybe a little out there, but it’s a fun exercise. I encourage everyone to do this, and to take it seriously. Try it alone first, and then partner with your spouses, family, friends…..whoever is in your life and supporting your financial fitness goals. Write a letter to your future family…..think about the next generation, and even 2 or 3 generations out. Tell them about your life and why you made the decisions you made….think about what you're doing now and what you will do. It may even highlight something that you need to start doing, or adjust in order to support your values and align with your goals.
Unpack your story and your commitment to future generations of your family and the growth and support of your community. Include your faith position, and your contributions that began as early as you can remember, and create a narrative that will become a goal to achieve before you reach your specific summit. Give advice to your future self and family about what is really important in life, and what to spend your time and attention on. Talk about your commitment to financial fitness and how they can duplicate it and even improve on the mistakes that you made and learned the hard way.
Be honest with this journaling activity, and then after an individual session, and a draft……bring someone you trust into the activity, and maybe they have completed a letter as well. Share them with each other, and start to create a single letter that is the combination of both, or even from the whole family if you have children old enough to contribute.
I think children should be included as early as possible, and I can tell you that we include our son in all financial discussions, budgeting, and all three of the money activities of giving, saving and spending. He is 6 now and will be 7 this year, but his appreciation and understanding of why we budget and the freedom associated with the discipline of good financial fitness is inspiring. We haven't given him any secret or magic advise about finances, but he understands that it takes work and discipline to maintain them. He accepts that sometimes he has to sacrifice a want because its not in the budget, and we even have some longterm family goals that will result in a celebration and reward once we achieve them. He wants us to achieve the goals, and so he participates in finding ways to help move us closer and continue to make progress….even if it means saying NO to something fun.
I say all that to defend my position on getting the family involved. Growing up I had no idea what was going on with finances in the house, and so I grew up without much context about the subject. I knew that you had to manage your money and try to make as much as possible, but making more will never result in financial fitness if we don't have a gameplan for success. We need a compass and enough discipline to work tirelessly toward the top of our mountains.
Once you have your letters….save them. Re-read them every month for a while and then every year. Think about what is the same and what may have changed. Check-in with the goals and the statements about your contributions and the ways in which your life have moved toward or away from those goal statements. Have your values shifted…..what are you currently focused on that you warned future generations about and advised them to steer away from, and focus on what is truly important?
You will undoubtedly make adjustments along the way, and this exercise will also help you to start defining your WHY! I plan to unpack the WHY in another episode, but this activity will give you a head start in discovering your WHY, and will help to hold you accountable to your future self as well.
When I started the season with a commitment to go back to the basics this year, I didn't anticipate some of the topics that would come from that focus. I think there is a lot to learn from our previous generations….some good and some bad, but all valuable in that it will help us to align with those goals, in support of the values that have been taught to us……and now we can use that example to climb our mountains and to inspire and educate the next generation to climb theirs.
In the show notes I have included a few more links than normal to help you this year as you refocus on your financial fitness. As we move into an inflationary period that we will all notice in our budgeting, these links are some resources to help you find ways to reduce your spending and get creative (and even bold) when it comes to budgeting and making your money last longer and go farther. Remember that it takes time and intentional focus and effort to maintain the discipline to focus on the longterm and tune out the here and now……even though the here and now…..URGENCY…..is the more annoying and louder voice.
So Climb your mountains! If you need to tell yourself out loud every day to stay the course and take that next step….then do it…..say it out loud, and let people know that you are living a life on purpose and of purpose. You will climb your mountain, and reach the top! When you do finally make it one day, and you get to see the view from the top and look back over a lifetime of discipline, commitment, focus, intention, purpose, inspiration and fitness…..you will stand proudly over your achievement and will want nothing more than to help others climb their mountains too! The view is always better from the top, but the journey while not easy….is possible, and even if you didn't know it until now….you are already on your way.
See you at the TOP!!!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
You guys know I like my quotes, and this is something I have said before, and while I am sure I am not the author, I can't seem to find an author for it…….at any rate, the quote is this…. "A Life lived on purpose, is a life well lived!" When we talk about our financial fitness, and using our filter of basics and a good foundation…..we can use this discipline as a vehicle to live a life on purpose! We can all think of times in our life when we felt more purpose than other times, and how rewarding and satisfying it feels to know that you had impact, or influence to inspire something….no matter how great or how small. If you can align with living a life on purpose….you can have that feeling every day, and for the rest of the climb up your mountain……Don't let anyone keep you away from that summit! Life at the end of purpose will live far beyond the top of your mountain, and may even be one of the stops and scenic views in someone else's journey. When others see you climbing higher and higher, they will be inspired to climb higher on their mountain too! SO climb your mountain, and live a life on purpose!
