Happy New Year to everyone! Our December weather certainly helped encourage the Christmas spirit! Many times, a lot of us begin the new year with a list of New Year’s resolutions. I’ve read ad nauseum the wise words of psychologists and great thinkers as to why we as humans don’t seem to stick with our New Year’s resolutions very well. The sum-total of most of this wisdom points to our very human condition: Keeping resolutions is hard because it involves change. Wow. Change. That change thing gets harder for me the older I become. Volumes of books have been written about our difficulty with change. Some smart person several years ago defined it pretty eloquently. “We rarely change our stripes as people, especially of our own accord. When we do, it seems to be about pain. Most of our self-induced change happens when the pain of change appears to be less than the pain of staying the same.” (Many sources attribute this quote to motivational speaker and author Tony Robbins).
As I reflect back on my life, I’d say that quote pretty well sums it up. I wish I could say I always thought it through and was more intentional in the changes I have initiated throughout my life. I suppose most of us could share that thought. Yes, change is hard. My doctor has been trying to get me to drop several pounds for the past couple of years. He finally got my attention with my latest annual physical, especially the results of my blood work – specifically my A1C! Pre-diabetic is not exactly what I had in mind. Especially after growing up in a family of insulin-dependent diabetics (who didn’t take very good care of their health!). So, with some outside “encouragement” from my physician (and most importantly from my wife), I’m self-initiating change (sort of self-initiating). To be fair, I have become much more motivated to change.
Life is so very good where we live here in Bowling Green, and in the United States. I have a fabulous family with a lovely, supportive wife, self-sufficient grown children and fun grandchildren, and I plan on enjoying them and this life long into the future, God willing. The team of folks I work with are caring, fun, sincere, smart, and hard working. Our clients love up on us and we have fun together. This community makes it very easy to make great friends, and I count many as such. Wow. We are blessed to live here. So, yes, I believe the pain of staying the same and not being proactive in my health is greater than the pain of change. So, I am learning how to change for the better.
Why this personal story? Because my physician tells me I am not alone. Our country has grown its waistline – a LOT. Change is hard. I agree. But maybe someone reading this column will relate. Maybe it will help them with their plan of change. Some really smart folks have told us all our lives that we should make change incrementally – a bit at a time. Change should be about progress not just shooting for the stars. Measuring while looking backward is important in life. In other words, don’t just measure looking at the big hairy audacious goal (BHAG). Big hairy audacious goals can be important. But the only way we accomplish the BHAG is by making progress.
The best way to measure our progress is by looking back to where we started at the beginning of our change. Celebrating the progress helps a lot! And speaking of starting, Isaac Newton gave us some help with his First Law of Motion. Simply stated, an object in motion tends to stay in motion (unless acted upon by another object). So, what’s the smallest, little action we can take to get into motion? The anchor stuck at the bottom of the sea will only move after it is acted upon for the first inch. That first inch usually lends itself to the second inch, and so on.
So come on, what’s the first inch look like for you and the change you would like to make this year? For some of our clients, it’s about saving and investing more for the future – either their own financial security or their loved ones. Others are wanting to get their estate and legacy plan completed. This type of change is no different than any other type of change. The most important step is the first inch. My hope is that if you have New Year’s resolutions, that you will start. Our team loves to help people with their progress. If we can help you in any way, please call on us. As we say to our clients, we like to be your first call. Happy New Year!
-by Ben Smith
Registered Principal, RJFS
313 East 10th Ave. • Bowling Green, KY 42101 • Phone: 270-846-2656
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