Financial Fitness - The Three Phases on the Path to Success

There was a period of time some years ago where I had become very burned out by the financial services industry.?I was dealing with investments, financial professionals and due diligence officers from large financial institutions.??It was somewhat cold.?It was largely math and returns and performance.?I was dealing with other financial professionals instead of the end consumer.?I didn’t feel fulfilled.?I needed to feel and see that I was really helping people, and performance graphs and due-diligence agreements don’t provide that feeling.?

The Experiment

My wife Kristy, as she has plenty of times in life, lit a fire under me.?After experiencing a lay-off in the gas and oil investment industry, I had the opportunity to try what she had encouraged me to do. ?The plan was simple; think of something you really enjoy, and try to see if you can make a living doing it.?Google search…”is there such a thing as professional coffee drinker and pastry eater?”?Plan B it is.

Enter a period of my life that I like to call the Halftime Show of my financial services career.?My wardrobe malfunction of that halftime show was that I lost the shirt and tie, and ended up in sweats and a T-shirt.?The combination of my passion for fitness and sports along with my desire to provide meaningful impact in a person’s life set me on the path to being a personal trainer.?I had always taken friends and work colleagues under my wing to help them get in shape, but now I was going to do it professionally.?

While in the fitness space, I didn’t imagine myself back in the financial space.?The bigger surprise was years later when I was back in the financial industry with a new passion and love for what I do.?Personal training brought me back to what I always intended to do, help people and leave them changed.?I learned that if I can do that in fitness, I can apply the same principles to achieve similar results in finance.??The target result is either a healthier, fitter body, or a better financial picture.?Two different targets…two sets of tools…one path…

The Three Phases – Decision, Adaptation, Momentum

Decision

Some decisions are easier than others.?Some decisions are purely transactional.?I’ll trade my $4.50 for that cappuccino.?Done.?Other decisions are made up of an initial decision to start something, with a series of decisions along a path to stay on that path.?Those are lifestyle decisions.?

As a personal trainer I would often wonder why some of my clients absolutely crushed it, while others never really made significant progress.?Both sets of clients showed up and did every workout, but the difference between the two clients was what they did in between our time together. I’d have some clients who would crush a morning workout with me, but I’d see them walking out of Dairy Queen with a blizzard at 1:30 that afternoon.?Those actions aren’t the problem, but a symptom of the problem that exists between their ears. They truly hadn’t made up their mind to commit to doing something different.????I can’t make up anybody’s mind for them.?I can educate them, encourage them, coach them and solve problems for them, but at some point the switch has to go off in their mind that they have made the conscious decision to do something different. ?That decision ALWAYS requires sacrifice.?Not everyone is willing to do that.?The ones who are will see the most results.?It’s the same in finances.?We all know the obstacles and the uphill battle of being in the middle class.?We know what the battle is, but it’s what we do with that information that makes the difference.??

Now the good news is that this decision and subsequent series of decisions doesn’t need to be made alone.?That’s where having a good coach who can guide you and hold you accountable comes in.?Our mind will easily quit before our body does, whether it’s in sticking to a fit lifestyle, or sticking to a healthy financial plan.?The coach will walk along side you to keep you focused on the big picture, help educate you as to why the little things are important and provide resources and encouragement to help you stay the course.

Adaptation

The body is just like your finances.?It adapts to the stimulus given to it.?For example, if a person trains their body to run farther and faster, then over time their body and it’s various systems will adapt to become more efficient under that stimulus.?Your body learns to run faster and farther.?Our finances are the same in some sense.?If you’re trained in the art of retail therapy, then it’s very easy and natural to get a paycheck, and go buy something nice.?It’s almost effortless, like that is what your bank account was trained to do.?Contrary if you’re a master miser, it’s very easy and effortless to take the bare minimum out of your paycheck and deposit the rest in the savings account, never to be touched again for any reason whatsoever.

Now most people truly desire to fall somewhere in between the retail therapy guru and the master miser and live a life of balance.?Well, then that’s the stimulus you have to provide.?Your finances, like your body will adapt if you adopt healthy spending and saving habits.?

Again, going at it alone is treacherous.?At the very least, if you don’t have a good coach to consistently offer you positive stimuli, training and education, you should put yourself in a circle of people who can be positive influences on your financial lifestyle habits.???

Momentum

Clients that got results showed up, worked hard and did their homework.?They made a series of good decisions.?Making more good decisions than bad ones will build momentum.?I had a basic code for my personal training clients who wanted to keep things simple.?Out of every ten food decisions they made, they had an initial goal to make seven good ones based on the education they’d received from me.?Also the three bad decisions out of ten couldn’t be horrendous ones (i.e. taking down a half gallon of rocky road in one sitting).?

"We have to realize that whether it’s the body or the bank account, the real results come after a series of good decisions are made over time and momentum starts to kick in."?

What I found was that people who worked towards the 7/10 rule, eventually were consistently hitting 9/10 because they had built up so much positive momentum and consistency. They became addicted to the positive results in their life so much so that the temporary joy of the bad decisions were no longer really worth it.??

Often in fitness or finance, we think we will flip a switch and just start doing everything right.??We have to realize that whether it’s the body or the bank account, the real results come after a series of good decisions are made over time and momentum starts to kick in.?

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Decide to do it.?Adapt as necessary.?Build on positive momentum.

What’s the best exercise to get results??What’s the best diet to lose weight? What’s the best money plan to improve your finances??The answer, while not that exciting, is that there is no “best.”?It’s a matter of picking a path, making the sacrifices to go down it and committing to see it through to the finish.??Certain types of people can go at it alone and find success.?Many of us need someone to partner with.?Find yourself a good coach, or at the very least a good accountability partner.?

If it’s finances we can help you pick and stick to the path.

You can apply the above principles to virtually any facet of life.?Having a successful business, marriage, family… all the same thing.?Decide, adapt and work from positive momentum. ?Look for experts or people you trust in your circle to hold you accountable.

Someone once told me I should personal train and do financial planning at the same time.?Unless you want to do pushups during an annual investment review, don’t tempt me!

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Investment advisory services offered through CWM, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor.

The views stated in this blog are not necessarily the opinion of CWM, LLC.

This piece is not intended to provide specific legal, tax, or other professional advice. For a comprehensive review of your personal situation, always consult with a tax or legal advisor.