Here is a sneak peek into my new book, Strong Woman Stronger Assets. Hope you like it!
Strong women wear their pain like they do stilettos. No matter how much it hurts, all you see is the beauty of it.
There are times when I will plan for hours on end and other times when I always wing it only to forget something necessary. Let me give you a few examples. If I have a big event coming up, I will plan out my outfit numerous times, I will keep planning it out even if I know what I want to wear, and I will even forget about that outfit and plan another outfit entirely. I think about it when I’m driving, when I go running, and while I get ready for other events. I get sick of how much time I dedicate to a simple outfit, especially when the outfit turns out to be a terrible combination of pants, top, shoes, and accessories. It’s way too embarrassing to admit how long I thought about it, and then it turns out to be a disaster, so I have to haul butt putting together yet another outfit last minute. Maybe this isn’t the best example of planning, let me try again.
When I get ready for my morning run, I really put some thought into it. I even plan out my whole week of runs, when my easy days will be, moderate days, and hard days, and how far they each will be. I know exactly how hard I want it to be (or easy), what my running route is, how long I want it to take me, and so on. If I didn’t plan out my run, do you think I would really get the most out of it? I’d probably do a mixture of hard and easy, but by the time I start sprinting, my run will be over. I would be wasting precious running time debating what to do today, not productive at all.
Now I am a planner by nature, remember I grew up with a financial planner as a father and a mother, who was OCD with being organized. Hopefully she will never open my closet doors or my home office desk! But there are times when I HATE to plan, hate, despise, avoid, or any other word you can fill in to describe this overwhelming feeling of hatred. Maybe you are like this with planning out your finances. Don’t worry, I got you covered if that is the case. For me, I HATE planning out my trip to the grocery store. It’s probable just the fact of hating to go to the grocery store. Again, you might be just like this when it comes to your money; you avoid it until there is no more food in the fridge or money in your bank account.
Today for instance, I went to the store, and I clocked how long it took me to get in, pay, and load up my car. It was 26 minutes, not too shabby, but I have to say, it definitely wasn’t one of my better trips. I forgot about a handful of items, some I remembered in the store, but I was too far from the aisle and so they remain on the shelves in their resting place. I even put somewhat of a list together because we were very low on spices and herbs, which we use a ton of, thank you Food Network. And I still forgot one of the herbs, a case of water, and a few other items necessary for the meals I’m planning on making. Whether I’m an average or poor cook or not, I still love to cook. And now because I forgot some items I needed, I will have to waste extra time during my hectic week to go back to the store and pick them up. I will waste time and probable waste more money because I’m pregnant, and being pregnant at a grocery store means you are guaranteed to buy some sort of snack you never thought was appealing before. And I probably won’t plan out that trip either, so I’ll forget one item, and the cycle goes on and on.
You can guess where I’m going with all these planning stories. When we plan and plan right, it can give us amazing results. There will be times, I will warn you, when you will plan, and it won’t go according to your plan. Why? Because life happens and will throw a curveball at you or a Jimmy Choo shoe at you to give you a female metaphor. But if we can react to the setback or new lane life presents you with, we can always fall back to our overall plan and get moving again. I have to say it always astonishes me when people go into a major life transition, say retirement, and not put an ounce of thought into it. It is ONLY the next twenty/thirty plus years of your life, but hey why plan it out. Think about your social security strategy, it is a million dollar or more question on when to take it. So why do what your neighbor, sister, or friend did? No one on this planet has the same exact situation as you do, which is why no one should have the same plan in place. You need a custom plan, and we will start building your plan in this chapter. I will give you a blueprint to follow or your overall GPS. But just like when you are driving to a new destination, you might hit traffic, find a quicker route, get a flat tire, or some interference. We will get you from point A to point B, but there can be new routes found along the way, quicker ones, or maybe times when we need to find longer ones and move a little slower. The point is to keep moving, adjust your plan when necessary, and get to your end goal and destination.
If you like what you read so far, sign up to get on my book launch team. Just click the button below:
essica Weaver, CFP®, CDFA™, CFS®
Wealth Advisor
Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. Information contained was received from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy is not guaranteed. Investing always involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss. No investment strategy can guarantee success. Past performance may not be indicative of future results.