The Tokyo Olympic Games have drawn to a close and it is easy to see why Canadians are among the best in the world.
With seven gold medals, six silver and 11 bronze and all their outstanding accomplishments, it is obvious to me all of our athletes demonstrated strong values and so much discipline. As Canadians we have every right to feel proud of our entire Olympic team.
I feel immense pride for all those who participated and have so much respect for what it took to participate on the world stage.
Yet success didn't happen overnight.
As the Olympics came to a close I couldn't help but think about the parallel between our Olympic athletes and financial athletes and have come to realize that you don't have to be a medalist to be a winner.
All of our Canadian athletes exhibited fierce determination, grit, discipline and had a goal -- with razor sharp focus on achieving that goal.
Those who have strong financial values will tell you financial success, like athletic success, can be gruelling, tiring and not always fun. And it often comes down to the three Ps.
It takes discipline to have a detailed plan that evolves as you do, and patience to realize achieving your goals will take time, while never losing sight of the pursuit.
Let's break it down:
Plan: You need to have a plan to achieve your financial goals. What are you trying to achieve, what is your time horizon and what does success look like for you? Is it paying off your mortgage? Building an investment plan or getting out of debt?
You have to play to your strengths and know very few make it to the top without a coach, or in other words, a financial advisor, planner or money mentor. Like our athletes, you need to surround yourself with the right people to help you stick to your plan and tweak your plan to achieve the goals that matter to you.
Patience: Once you have the plan, it takes true grit to execute it. So often, we start on a financial journey with hope, focus and desire. However, it can get tough. You might lose your job, have an unexpected expense or have any sort of financial setback, all have the potential to derail you. Just like our athletes, it can and will get hard, but that doesn't mean you can't get through it. Every financial journey will have speed bumps, detours and even a closure along the way. This is where you tweak your plan and take corrective action with the destination in mind.
Pursuit: Every athlete demonstrated an element of discipline. Sure there were days when they likely didn't want to train and possibly wondered if the end goal was actually worth the struggle. In a similar way along the road to your financial goals there will be temptation, a desire to spend money you might not have, and seriously think about throwing in the towel because it just doesn't feel like it is worth it to struggle this hard just to save money.
Before you think this doesn't apply to you, I believe every athlete will tell you it was worth the effort to realize the dream. Every financially successful person I've talked to has said it was worth the effort to achieve financial independence. It is never easy, and certainly not fun, but over time just as our athletes progressed, we get financially stronger and are far more financially fit then when we started.
Bottom line: there are winners in all walks of life, just different metrics to measure success.
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