Little and Often

I have struggled to write of late.  Not that I don't have things to write, it just seems things  happen so fast that by the time I get the semblance of coherent thought about one thing, something else has happened.  On and on and on.

I write because it helps me think.  It forces me to stop and reflect. It allows me to argue with myself, to imagine the objections others may have to what I am saying and ensure there is some quality control. 

It is better to write than to post. Writing is slow. Posting is quick. Writing is intentional. Posting is reactionary.  I post too much and write too little.  

Not surprisingly, I find (and have observed) our approach to personal finances to be analogous. Too often acted from a place of reaction and too rarely from a place of intention. Life seems to happen so fast, we dismiss the value of being slow. 

Of course, we were taught as children, in the old fable, the turtle wins the race, but over and over and over, we still choose to be the hare. It seems the temptation to want to sprint out of the gates of life is too great for us to resist.  

So we abandon our investments when they don't grow like we believe they are growing for everyone else.  

So we abandon our debt management plan or don't save for retirement because it will take soooo long.  

So we never get around to protecting our families in the event we are not around or ensuring that what we leave goes where we want it to go.  

Last year we moved and took on a much bigger mortgage. It was one we could afford, mind you, but not one I like having.  My savings goals were intact, but that hasn't kept me from complaining  every time, when I look at the projected date for being mortgage free.  

“Life seems to happen so fast, we dismiss the value of being slow. ”

"How are we ever going to get this paid off?", I griped to my wife. She retorted with my own words (I hate it when my words come back to haunt me).  "Little and often," she said.  

Little and often.  Simple and devastatingly effective.  Whether you are saving, investing, or paying something down. Whether you are trying to go down a pant size or get a promotion. It is about putting in the slow, intentional work to create the life you want.   It is turtle like, not requiring bursts but rather intention, persistence and abandonment of impatience. 

There is no scarcity of time, we just chose to believe it or create it.   We have this day, the same number of hours for each.  We choose whether to slow down and live it with intention or simply let it pass us by.  Let us choose wisely.