A year ago, I could barely run 500 meters. Today I just signed up to run the Standard Chartered Marathon. This journey has been one of will power and if i can be running the marathon i know i can achieve whatever else needs to be achieved in my life. I have quit, started up again, quit started up again. I have fallen…..a month ago I had a nasty fall and found myself in hospital being bandaged and getting Tetanus shots. The financial marathon that we are all in is not much different. There will be moments of despair where you are thinking to yourself how could I have accumulated all that debt?, why don’t i earn more?, why do i have so many commitments?,when will I ever be able to save. These are the challenges i have come to believe life will put us through so we grow in s ome sort of way. It is extremely easy to get caught up in this wave of financial despair and never move forward. When I fell, I was extremely frightened to go back down the same hill I fell on. After a couple of runs my confidence around it came back. We at times beat ourselves so much over the “should have been” situations that we stop to assess what we can now do about it. A big source of this stress is that we compare ourselves with other people. My husband told me today “Running a marathon is a personal sport. Compete against yourself. Focus on your own achievement”. How many times have we made a financial decision based on what is expected out of us?. As I have learnt, set your own objectives. What do you want, and then figure out how to get it. In running it started with 1 km, then 3 km then 5 km and eventually signing up for this great annual event. Even with your financial goals it starts with small things which could simply be an adjustment in your spending patterns, then commitment to a savings plan, a share portfolio, a 1/8 acre piece of land, until you get where you want to be. However start today and be consistent. When you fall, dust of yourself, let it go and move on. It is said that there are no mistakes in life….only lessons.
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