The Problem with Just Do It

Just do it. Powerful, iconic, known by everyone, you know, what’s meant by that, you know, the company represents all these things, just do it. It’s Michael Jordan. It’s Nike, it’s excellence. It’s Stop messing around, stop thinking about it, just do it, get out there and make it happen. And I love that. I really do. I love it resonates with me. I fancy myself as somebody who is capable of doing most anything I put my mind to. I’m a resourceful person who just go out there and get it done. regardless of the circumstances, the odds are against me, whatever, just do it. But think about it. It’s kind of BS. And it’s BS for a million different reasons. But the most important reason is that a lot of people don’t know how to do it. Maybe have no idea how to do it, when to have a framework. We don’t know how to get started. We don’t know how to finish it. We don’t know how to keep it going. So whatever it is, just when he say just trivializes it, it cheapens it the complexity, that difficulty of it. And it really goes against human nature in general. Just make it happen. Just Just get out of debt. Just stop spending. Just just just whatever you are saying, just to I think we really need to rethink that. Two times. Now. What got me thinking about this, twice over the past called two weeks, in recent memory, probably within the last week, whatever. People asked me, said, if you are hopeless, if you are living hand to mouth, if you are struggling mightily when it comes to finances, what do you do? What’s your advice to those people? And I sort of muddled through it. And it’s sort of do anything i muddled through the answer’s no, I know the answer. I didn’t have the right words. I couldn’t just say it, I couldn’t just give the answer. So that’s it. So I want to lay out three steps for figuring out what to do, should you find yourself in that situation. And reality is that a lot of us are in that situation. In fact, most of us are in a pretty untenable, unwinnable suffocating situation, when it comes to personal finances, three quarters or two thirds living paycheck to paycheck, whatever that is, if it’s three quarters of two thirds, a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, most of us are struggling with credit card debt, and that those problems are getting worse and worse as interest rates go up. Not to mention, exacerbated by inflation and other things that are happening. That is a massive, what some people refer to as a hidden tax, now it’s hitting us right in the face. So just manage through it, just figure it out. That’s, that’s that’s not doing it. So we’ve got big problems that we’re up against. And I am fond of telling people that this was me, I was living paycheck to paycheck, I wasn’t in and out of credit card debt, I didn’t keep a budget, I didn’t track my cash flow. I just had terrible financial behavior for the better part of my 20s. And probably still would today if it wasn’t for my, my, my my wife, God bless her. And I’m so grateful that she got me on the right track anyway. But it’s a real thing. And just telling people and telling people to just do it, just get a Dutch figure it out, is not helpful. So there’s a lot going on here. It’s we have financial literacy is a problem. That means I don’t understand how money works. I don’t understand how taxes work or how credit cards work. I’m not literate when it comes to budgeting or tracking my cash flow or putting together financial plans. So that’s a major issue for a lot of people. And then there’s idea of or this practice of financial wellness. So that’s having the information knowing intellectually what I’m supposed to be doing. Do it am I actually doing it? Am I actually am I just doing it? Am I putting the knowledge that I have to work in the real world? So when we have these problems, like living paycheck to paycheck like drowning in credit card debt, all of it not saving, that’s not investing for retirement, we are messing up in one of those areas, then it’s such a human thing to do this classic behavior gap that exists between what I know I ought to be doing, and what I actually do. And there’s many different reasons for that, like procrastination, and this that the other thing, and there’s a lot on our plates, and so many demands on our time, attention, energy and money in this debt, anything yet, here we are. So if you find yourself in a position where you are struggling mightily, there’s not enough money to go around. You are robbing Peter to pay Paul and, and moving credit cards around and playing all those games that many of us, myself included, have done at some point in time. Here’s what I would encourage you to do. Number one, take a giant step back and recognize that something needs to change. Something needs to change, probably many things need to change. When we’re in a position where we don’t have enough money, one of two things, or a combination of both must happen. Number one is we must figure out how to earn more money. Is that possible for you? Is there a way for you to earn additional money? Could you get a promotion, get a new job, get a new certification or new skills that would allow you to earn more money in the same role or a similar role? Could you take on more work? Could you do a side hustle? Could you take on a second job? Are these possible? Yes. Now? Yes, no, maybe? So. Number two is if we’re not able to do that, how do we live on less? Is it possible for us to live on less? Can we cut expenses? Can we cut lifestyle? Not a fun conversation, not one that I’m get excited about having I don’t like telling people to do this, but we are between a rock and a hard place. So like more money, live on less, some combination of those two? Okay, so something’s got to change, how do we figure that out? Okay, just recognizing that we must make some changes. Because continuing on as you are, is going to keep you exactly where you are. And so much of personal finance and money is time sensitive, simply meaning that the longer it takes us to pursue our financial goals and priorities, the longer it takes for us to get there. And the harder it becomes for us to get there. I think that’s probably more accurate. If you started saving at 20 years old versus 50 years old, obviously, it’s way easier to be able to retire at 60. If you started saving early, but you intellectually I think probably understand that. So something has to change. Number two is make a plan. Even if it’s not a plan that you can put it to work, make a plan, figure out, okay, what do I need to do, I need to make a plan for earning more money, I need to make a plan for living on less. So that means I need to go through and put together a budget. If I haven’t done that, that means I need to really zero in and look at my cash flow under a magnifying glass and see what it is that I’m spending money on. And where can I optimize or make cuts or make changes? If I’m in credit card debt, which many of us are, how can I put a plan together for freeing up finding money to be able to put towards that credit card debt and to get out of it. Because certainly, once you’re able to get out of credit card debt, that’s going to give you so much breathing room, some space to be able to let your shoulders down, let some of the tension out of your body. But we have to make a plan. And so I mean that one of those other realities of human beings and human nature is that we have a tendency to really overestimate what we can get done in one year, and underestimate what we can get done in three years. So think about your planning. However, you’re deciding to make plans, whatever you’re making plans for, to do it in three year increments. Can you make massive changes in one year? Yes, you can. It’s way harder. But can you make massive changes in three years? Yes. I think that it’s very possible. I think you can really change your life over the course of a three year period. Could you be totally debt free in a year? No. Maybe? Could you be totally different three years probably. Did you lose 100 pounds in a year? Maybe could you lose 100 pounds in three years? Probably. Could you be you know, you could go to law school and graduate three years for goodness sakes. So your life can be totally different in three years, so it’s all about having the right time horizon. So when you’re making your plans, make plans with three years in mind, figure out what you need to be doing right now today in order to execute and to bring that three years. So fast forward three years from today. What do you need to be doing now and

In order to make that reality, whatever that is, get free some money in the bank, on track for retirement, whatever it is, and then start executing on that. So the third one is getting really clear on what it’s going to take to execute what resources you’re going to need. And during this third step, I talk a lot about setting goals. Creating habits around your goals, making sure that you understand your beliefs about money and your values around money. Because if we’re talking about making major changes, just making major changes for the sake of making changes, it’s not a recipe for sustainable success. But knowing exactly the version of the future that I want for myself and my family, you do that by thinking about what your goals are, you do that by thinking about what’s most important to you and your values and things like that. And then you tie all your behaviors in the form of habits to getting what you really want. It’s a matter of perspective, when we are right in the middle of it, it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. But with perspective, you zoom out a little bit, and you have a little bit of space, and you can see a lot more. And that’s where having that three year time horizon will allow you to take that big step back, even if it’s momentarily, it’s essentially like stepping outside of your life for a minute. And being an observer as to what’s going on. And being a critical observer being a fair observer of what behaviors need to be altered or changed, what needs to be added what needs to be subtracted. And again, figuring out what is most important what you’ve truly do want. So in the spirit of helping to do that we have a free goals course we have a free values course. So it’ll help you to give you the framework. So instead of me saying just set goals, just figure out your values. Now, go through the courses, which are free again, that will help you to set your goals, they’ll help you to clarify your values. And we also have a third course called get out of debt. So if you do find yourself in credit card debt, I’m not just going to tell you to just get out of debt, I’m giving you the resources to be able to actually do it, and to put yourself in position. And then from there, that’s really what that that’s, that’s what it’s all about. It’s how do we put ourselves in position to be successful. So you have very little guarantee over the circumstances in my life, I can’t guarantee what’s happens to me at all. But what I do have control over complete control is how I think, feel and respond to the circumstances of my life. You need to work hard, but you need to work hard at the right things. And when you know, what your plan is, and your goals and all those things that we’re talking about. You apply yourself and focus and work hard, that is working hard on the right things and towards the right things. And then finally, we need to be patient. Because while it is possible for things to change and happen quickly, oftentimes it takes a while making big changes in life, making substantive changes. Big changes, like we’re talking about, take time, a lot of the time, it takes time, a lot of that time. So understand that it will, but it’ll be worth it. So keeping that desired future, top of mind, right Ferrania thinking about it all the time. That will help you through the tough times, to do the things you need to to be successful. So don’t just do it, put a plan together, execute that plan, and that will help you to do it. And you can do it. Remember, do your part for doing your best

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