Sakshi Malik ended the 3-week drought at the Rio Olympics 2016, and PV Sindhu finished it with a sparkling silver. While we are welcoming our Olympic heroes for the medals our team is going to bring, but we all forget the hard work, the patience these guys put in to reach this stage. Not only ours, all athletes from other countries, all have a story about how they achieved this feat. Sport is all about hard work and disciplined practice for years. Today’s post is inspired and dedicated to these wonderful athletes and players who give us these entertaining moments to cheer.
If sports is all about hard work, patience and discipline so are the money making or wealth creation. Several techniques are common to both the fields. Both are not easy and both require time to master. There is a lot we can learn by knowing and learning from these Olympians. Look how Olympians inspire us to make wealth:
Goals Motivate
Sakshi won the Kids Wrestling Championship in Russia in 2008 and she and her coach had identified a goal- To participate in Rio 2016 and go for a medal. These entire 8 years in the middle they kept this goal in front and prepared for it. Deepa Karmakar missed by .15 points but the first thing she said was, I am going to get a medal at 2020 Tokyo games. She is clear what to target.
In personal finance, you may target a lot of things like paying off debts or, establish a sizable emergency fund, or start making investments. Whatever it may be, you have to set your sights and focus on achieving that goal by contributing to it as best you can. An important part of that process is holding yourself accountable by tracking your spending and saving habits and monitoring progress toward your ultimate goal — and that often starts with budgeting.
Sacrifices are the way to achieve your goals
Visualizing goals are very important and equally important is to ready yourself for the sacrifices. Olympians have to give up what most normal people do. They don’t eat junk food, they sleep and wake up at fix time, they practice on holidays and stay in training camps for months away from family and friends.
The same way financial success also means sacrifices. You have to live on a budget, put the focus on what you need and push yourself away from the desires. You have to identify these monetary distractions and restrain yourself from being away from these. Sacrifice also means to discipline yourself to the investment strategy that you have been following and not getting carried away how your friends are investing or going for new schemes when they are launched.
The one thing you should keep doing- Practice, Practice, & Practice
Athletes show up to practice every day and continue to perfect their skill. Practice is about working on your weaknesses until they become skills. For eg Saving may be something you don’t do well, but you show up and practice. Sometimes you save a little and others times you save a lot, but to create the habit of saving you must consistently practice it.
As the popular saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect,’ and this applies to both- athletes striving to be the top talents in their sport and individuals who want to effectively manage their finances. Tasks like investing and saving money take practice; proficiency in these areas is not achieved overnight. Do the same thing every day as it relates to your money, whether that’s reviewing your asset allocation or working on a monthly budget or tracking your goal.
Show up every day- No Adhoc Business
No matter how busy you are, how tired you are after daily office, or low in mood or feeling messy about your finances, keep pushing every day. Olympians don’t skip the gym or the ground. In the same way, if you’re reaching for a financial goal you have to be willing to show up and put in the hard work, even when you don’t feel like it. This means balancing the budgets, working extra hours with your financial planner, and being an active participant in your wealth creation process.
Balance your emotions
Winning, losing or injury (and now dope tests) are part of the life of an athlete. They do not get carried away by few wins or crack open on certain defeats. In your search for sound money management, there will always be setbacks, whether it’s a drop in the market resulting drop in net worth or an impulse buys made in a moment of weakness or any such thing. Recovering from these mishaps quickly and continuing to practice good financial habits is key to your ultimate success.
Being Disciplined
Olympians are consistent in their training- both mentally and physically, schedule and daily affairs. It takes discipline to train for hours every day leading up to the Olympic Games and it takes this same kind of strong will to reach your financial goals. Investors must be consistent with their savings goals and spending behaviors to stay on track financially.
it’s much more fun to spend money on vacations and the latest gadget than it is to put money toward your goals or debt payoff plan. Having the control to forgo wants and focus only on your needs is a challenge. But isn’t it worthwhile if your aim is Financial Freedom?
Rio’s will be over next week, but our players and their performance have made us proud. We won some, lost some, lost some by a very thin margin- but we found our HEROS. People who will bring glory to us in future games.
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