Life Advice Sunday

Let’s play a little game. I’m going to give you one brilliant little piece of life advice that’s changed my life, then I’d like you to return the favor. One of you may say something that will change my life. Maybe the advice I’m about to give will also move the needle for you. There’s only one way to find out, though. You have a few different options if you choose to accept my challenge:

1. If you get this blog via e-mail, you can simply reply to the e-mail and type your response. These e-mails come directly into my primary inbox. Opening your e-mails is one of my favorite activities each day!

2. If you’re on the webpage (or click into the webpage from the e-mail), you can leave a comment in the comment section (which lives below the post).

3. You can DM me on social media, text me, send a carrier pigeon, call me, or tell me in the grocery store.

Again, I want to hear from you! Your advice is valuable. If enough of you respond, I’ll even publish a compilation of your brilliant advice for all to see.

With all that said, here’s my one piece of advice for you today:

When someone asks us to put something on our calendar for a future date, we often say yes by default. It’s not that we want to do it, but when the event is off in the future, we don’t have to actually mentally or emotionally deal with it at the moment. Here’s the hack. Pretend this same event is for tomorrow. If they asked you to add the same thing to your calendar for the next day or so, what would your answer be? If the answer is “no”, you need to say no. Why? Because soon enough, the event will be tomorrow……at which time you’ll probably not want to do it.

This simple little tip has saved me so many times. I used to say “yes” to practically everything. The “yes” never felt difficult or burdensome, but the later consequences did. This one is a game-changer!

Alright, your turn!

We Don't Know What We Don't Know

As I always do, I recently asked a clear but open-ended question to a prospective coaching client, “why are you here?” The answer to this question tells me a lot about someone and the direction this conversation could/should go. Some people have a very clear objective, while others have more of a gut feeling this is a conversation worth having. On this particular day, the husband had a short and concise answer. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

As we unpacked their financial lives and careers at a high level, it quickly became apparent to me they are doing better than probably 95% of people in this country. In most areas of their finances, they are thriving and have achieved tremendous success. To an extent, they are aware of this. However, they also don’t have much to compare it to. They explained how they try to do the best they can, but don’t always feel confident they are. I immediately confirmed how well they are doing, and tried to put it into a context that would move the emotional needle for them.

On the flip side, there are a few areas where they lacked focus, insight, and progress. Again, they weren’t really aware of how much they have fallen short in these particular areas. They immediately took note of these shortfalls, presumably for future reference.

When I asked what they attribute all their success to, they responded, “we don’t know what we don’t know, so we just keep asking questions and try to learn.” It seems a bit ironic: they know a lot about these topics because they humbly admit they don’t know a lot about these topics…..which enables and propels them to learn about these topics.

I know I’ve been guilty of feeling like I knew a lot about a topic, which caused me to stop learning and growing. I want to be more like this couple, though. Humble, curious, and open to grow. There’s always something to learn, and someone to learn it from.

What’s one area of life you want to grow in 2023?

1% Better

My friend TJ, founder and CEO of Northern Vessel Coffee Company, continually talks about the idea of getting a little bit better all the time. Or as he refers to it, “1% better every day.” When we hear this phrase, it sounds like a nice gentle upwards slope. 1% isn’t a lot, after all. All we need to do is get just a little bit better today, then just a bit better tomorrow.

Along those lines, my buddy, Louie, recently invited me into a Facebook group with one very simple mission. Everyone in the group will do one pushup on the first of January. Then two on the second. Then three on the third……and we will repeat for all 365 days of 2023. Sounds simple. In fact, my three pushups yesterday were a breeze! Also, can I note it was a 50% increase from the day prior? I’m crushing it! Ask me again how I’m feeling on day 45…..

We’re going to get a little bit better each day, one pushup at a time. It seems quite simple…..until I realize that means by NYE 2023 I’ll have done nearly 67,000 pushups on the year. Yikes! Little improvements, huge results. To be honest, I’ve never been overly dedicated to physical fitness. I always find stumbling blocks, excuses, and other reasons to push pause (i.e. quit). This will be the test of a lifetime for me.

Handing our finances is much the same way. If we get just a little bit better at budgeting, or generosity, or leaning into our values, or investing, or improving our career skills, or a number of other things, the upside is staggering. Not all at once, not instantly, and not even tomorrow, but slowly over a time.

You deserve better……yes, 1% better.

Simple, But Hard

When talking to friends and acquaintances throughout the course of life, I regularly hear criticisms and complaints about financially irresponsible people in their life. Maybe it’s their grown child, neighbor, sibling, friend, or colleague. Since I’m the guy who helps people with money, they perceive me as a good outlet to vent these frustrations.

On one hand, I completely get where they are coming from. We should handle money better…..and doing so is simple. However, just because it’s simple, it doesn’t make it easy. I believe personal finance is really, really simple, and really, really hard. Telling someone in your life to “do it better” is a fool’s game. That would be like me unsuccessfully trying to rotate the tires on my car and having my mechanically inclined brother-in-law tell me to just “do it better.” It may be simple, but it’s hard. I was never taught, so how would I know how to do it?

But here’s where it gets beautiful. If I desire to learn how to rotate tires AND my brother-in-law is willing to teach me, I too will learn the art and science of rotating tires. It’s simple, but hard.

Finance is the same way. If there are people in your life who struggle with finances and have the desire to get better, you have the power to teach them or connect them with the resources that can. It’s simple, but hard.

If you’re looking for a cheap and simple resource, we have a podcast. It’s free, it’s good (I’m totally biased), there’s a ton of content (170+ episodes), and its packaged in succinct 10-15 minute bites.