At the weekend I ran the Jurassic Coast Marathon with a few friends…. if you haven’t walked along the coast, I would recommend a trip. The south coast is becoming a favourite of mine! Anyway, in preparation for this run I started working with a personal trainer……for a little bit of extra strength and conditioning training. In one of our sessions, I was speaking with him about his business, and he said something that he was going to say in one of his videos that he uploads to his clients/online community.
‘If you want to have a lean physique but you are not giving up unhealthy food it is not going to happen.’
‘If you want to run a marathon but work until 8pm each night, it’s not going to happen’
These statements are obvious and make sense, yet some individuals have unrealistic expectations.
He then went on to say…
‘You must align your targets with what works best for you. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up to fail.’
By coincidence I also saw a message from Steven Bartlett on my LinkedIn feeds….
’Discipline is about making choice after choice that is aligned with our intentions. In any moment, we can make a choice that supports an intention, or we can make a choice that support an old habit.’
If you take this into Financial Planning. Whatever your goal/objective/dream is you must take actions that help you to achieve your goals. If we take a basic example…. if you want to retire at 60 years old but you are not saving this is not going to happen.
Some clients have a clear goal and are specific about what they want in the future. Whereas others are a little more vague but still have clear aspirations. For example, I was speaking with a client today, they have an age range when they want to retire and plan to travel around Asia. For this to come true they must make decisions now that are aligned with their future retirement intentions.
This sounds easy but it is a lot harder in practice, the reason why.….humans have an unconscious bias discounting the future. Meaning we tend to discount the future in favour of today and many find it difficult to implement or stick to a plan.
I have never seen this quote but I absolutely love it and find that it resonates with me in terms of my life whether this is work or personal.
’Discipline is about making choice after choice that’s aligned with our intentions’
If anyone needs help and advice to implement a financial plan please do not hesitate to contact me.
