After all my research I expected the first wobble of commitment a little later than when it actually occurred.
For the first few months on this journey from May 2021 I was quite happy seeing how my monthly contributions into these pots effected my budget and bank balance at the end of the month. I wanted to see what happened when the dust settled with the changes I made. The amounts I was moving across had some rationale behind them but as if often the case in life there were quite a few changes coming up which may have rocked the boat.
So, I was certainly in my opinion being very conservative in my amounts with the aim to increase them later.
Following the advice from a few podcasters and books I’d read, especially Ramit Sethi, I didn’t want to completely limit myself and make myself miserable with drastic changes which could result in me feeling rather miserable and not liking this new path I was on.
By September 2021 I had been contributing for three months and the uncomfortable truth came apparent. My very conservative numbers were in fact my upper limit.
The newbie honeymoon period came crashing down and I felt deflated. So early on this shouldn’t be the case.
I stood back and tried to figure out why I was so frustrated with it all.
I then realised it was because of the same reason we (well me anyway!) compare what we see in the 1% of the population on social media and take that as ‘normal’. If you scroll through your Instagram or Facebook feed, you will see people showing the slim portion of their life which is their highlight reel (exactly as I do…..). If you follow people in the top of their field – models, athletes, CEO’s etc, you will presume that their life is the same as everyone in their field. Which is obviously not the case.
I was ultimately doing this with the finance people I was following. I would follow someone who was earning three times as much as me, with half the fixed outgoings, and getting confused and frustrated why my savings rate wasn’t as high. I was getting distracted by an individual who was able to start their FIRE journey and then within 5 years retire from work with a cool $1 million in the bank. I was trying to compare my financial knowledge to someone much smarter and much more experienced than me.
Now these individuals have done amazingly. There is no jealousy on them at all and I fully recognise the work they did to achieve their goal. They would have had their own sacrifices and they would have worked super hard to get there.
But I don’t see what the 1% of achievers are doing and then showing me in their edited ‘highlight reel’ as a normal average path to align myself to at this stage in my journey. It’s great to show what is possible, and a high benchmark means you will work harder if you see that it is possible. A great example here is the sub-4-minute mile completed by Roger Bannister. In 1954 he ran the first sub-4-minute mile – which everyone agreed was impossible. The next two years 9 more runners completed this feat – which was so-called impossible. So, I truly appreciate the benefits of having high markers to aim for.
I also recognise that perhaps (hopefully!) in a few years’ time I will be reflecting on my current situation and think how similar it is to these people I follow on social media, whose books I read and podcasts I listen to, that I am closer to them than I was when I started.
I had become victim here to being outcome focused and not process focused. I was getting distracted by outside noise and great sales pitches. The advice from everyone I had been following all said the same – “be patients and stay the course”. What the hell did I expect in 3 months!?
I needed to understand the process of the FIRE journey more before I could be distracted with the outcome of being FIRE. I needed to stop comparing myself to someone whose current situation is nothing akin to mine, and instead use that as motivation and a marker to keep going. I needed to take inspiration that these 1% on their highlight reel were most likely once in a similar position to me.
Breath…….
I expected the first wobble to happen later than 3 months but at least I came out the other end in a better position. Thankfully I didn’t do anything drastic with my pot amounts or invest in anything particularly wild outside of my norm or comfort. That would not have been what I originally planned and would have been against the advice of everything I understood and believed in. Thankfully after this wobble I continue to use the people who have helped me to still be a source of inspiration and knowledge, and I didn’t turn into a bitter old man throwing my toys out!
When the next wobble happens, I need to come back to this blog post and remind myself.
JL Collins did warn there would be self-doubt, and that I must trust the system in the place and not get distracted by outside noise.
Remember what you read.
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