Walking the talk…
It is Monday morning, and I am back at my desk after a longer break than I imagined. It is important for me to include a little levity, along with the dose of reality inspiring me to write, because the area of financial matters often feels fraught. So, as I typed the title for this note, all kinds of “walking songs” came flooding to mind, everything from Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walking” to Run DMC’s “Walk This Way.” It will not surprise those who have known me for some time to hear that I have a Financially Fearless playlist. Yes, yes, I do.
However, fun songs that inspire us to move, aside, and despite what my title may imply, today I want to highlight rest.
A break.
A breather.
A reset.
Whatever you want to call it. In this instance, the talk I had been walking, these past two weeks, was allowing myself a break, a moment of grace. When all “logic” and our go-go-go culture screams at us to just muscle through, and keep going, it takes courage to pause. And it is not easy. It can feel irresponsible. It can feel wasteful. In a culture that treats movement as equivalent to progress/success, it can start to feel disappointing, like you are failing, losing ground, or actually going backward, altogether. But here is the thing, captured in a quote I love, and the image it evokes for periods of rest:
“In order for an arrow to be shot forward, it must first be drawn backward.
Life is like an arrow, sometimes you have to take a step back, in order to propel into your future.”
And Aristotle, referring to the aim of archers, went so far as to say: “…in so doing, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.”
Pause. Wow. Ok.
So, I embraced my inner archer. I took a break. I will admit, though, not willingly, at first. Too long I have subscribed to the “just get this one more thing accomplished, and then you can rest” mentality and method. And it has cost me. No one does their best work, offers their best effort, when they are drained and exhausted. It is a creativity killer. It is a kindness killer. It is just a killer. This summer, I moved our entire lives in 60 days. Three states. Two toddlers. Two dogs. And one intrepid little trailer. I lost count of how many 20-hour trips we made back and forth from our former home, to our new home. Ten hours after our final trip, one of back breaking effort, in record heat, punctuated by daily loss of power, my children started school for the first time, after 18 months of 24/7 being at home with me. There were so many competing priorities, logistics challenges and “you have got to be kidding me” moments crammed into a very intense summer. It was bananas.
Even still, I did not want to admit I needed a break. I did not want to admit I needed rest. I tried to bully myself with “you cannot afford to take a break,” you are building a business. But, here is the thing: at the point we REALLY need a break, it is already past time to have taken one, and we cannot afford not to take one.
Let me repeat: we cannot afford not to take periodic breaks.
You knew I was going to bring this back to our financial lives, right? Running ourselves ragged costs us more than “just” our energy stores, though I would argue our time and energy are some of our most valuable assets. Unfortunately, it is not often seen that way, or worse, it is seen as someone else’s asset to direct. I have The Time Value of Money in draft, so know this topic will be revisited, in greater detail. For now, my point in sharing the necessity for breaks comes down to this:
we all need periodic breaks
we cannot always predict when they might be needed, but you can bet after a sustained or intense effort of any description, a break is in order
we can build into our plans a break fund, and allocations that keep our finances working for us, while we recharge
I share all of this to encourage you not to fear a break to recharge. It is not a “gift” to ourselves, it is a necessity.
A Necessity.
And one of the ways I believe we can lessen the fear of breaks to recharge, is by creating a plan that keeps things humming along, without requiring ongoing action, on our part. We can allocate our capital in service of our whole lives. As Covid continues to redefine our lives, and ask even more of our capital, it is ever more clear the need to revolutionize our approach to protect and apply our assets, our valuable resources of energy, time, creativity. As part of that, I encourage you to plan for and embrace real breaks, Juno Capital Strategy, LLC is here to help you learn how, Let’s Talk!