A Better Approach to Improvement
When it comes to improvement in any area of life, it’s easy to fall into the trap of making big changes. I have done this in many areas of my life. Earlier this year, on my 25th birthday, I decided that I was going to get into shape and become more disciplined. So, I went to YouTube and followed everyone’s favorite Navy Seal, the Beast, Jocko Willink. Jocko is widely known for what some would call his extreme levels of discipline. He wakes up at 4:30 a.m. every morning and works out. He also encourages his followers to do the same. I decided it would be a good idea to try and emulate the 4:30 AM routine. It would go something like this:
4:30 AM: Wake Up
4:40 AM: Run
5:00 AM: Take a Shower and Get Ready for Work
6:00 AM: Fight my urge to nap, then usually take a nap...
Once I got to work, I was tired the entire day. After some time of this gruesome routine, I eventually decided that this was not for me. What is unfortunate is that I didn’t just stop waking up early, but I also stopped working out. You may be wondering how any of this relates to money, stick with me.
Looking back at my approach to getting in shape and becoming disciplined, I can say that I had the right mindset of wanting to improve. My desire to improve is something I applaud myself for. So, what went wrong? It is simple, I did too much, too fast. I went from no exercise to exercise every day. I went from waking up at 6:00 AM to waking up a whole hour and a half earlier. Too much, too fast. I burnt out. Burnout is a controversial subject. Many of the great entrepreneurs and C-suite executives would probably scoff at this idea of burnout. Or maybe Jocko and David Goggins would just flat-out think I am weak. Perhaps they are right, but it doesn’t change the fact that I burnt out. It doesn’t change the fact that this method of improvement, didn’t work for me.
This month, I have been learning what seems to be a better approach to improvement. Much of the content I am consuming is centered around the idea of creating small wins and setting small goals. Let’s take the fitness example, I went from not running any miles per day to setting the goal of running 1 mile per day. I couldn’t sustain this because 1 mile per day was unrealistic for someone who hasn’t even built up the habit. What I should have done is start with maybe running .25 miles per day. Because .25 miles is better than no miles. Then maybe after two weeks, I bump it up to .30 miles per day. Incremental improvements, over a long period of time.
Okay, so how does this relate to money? When I set out on this journey of managing my money better and learning how to build wealth, I leaned on the extreme side of things. I decided I would save as much as I could and invest as much as I could. I decided that I would not put aside any money for fun. But now, I am realizing that going from not saving at all, to saving a large portion of my money, just isn’t sustainable FOR ME at the moment. But I can start saving a little, then maybe in a few months, a little more, and so on. This is the approach I am going to try and take with my money as well as other areas of my life going forward. Baby steps. I have always been someone who tried to run before I could walk, so it will be interesting to apply this idea to my life.
Food for thought, are there any goals in your finances or your life, that you haven’t achieved because you tried too much too fast? If so, how can you make those goals smaller so that you can slowly work up to your larger goals?
I will provide an update at some point on how this process is going for me!
