Climbing Mountains (Figuratively)

Some people thrive on self-help books. Committed to improvement, or at least the thought of it, some read the classics like Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich or Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Others follow the latest from Anthony Robins and others. Me? I have an aversion to self-help books. It’s not that I find them shallow or pretentious or all froth. No, I just don’t like the premise that by reading them I am admitting that I need to change. Change is hard. It takes effort. It requires us to break from our comfort zones. I like the idea of change and am devoted to personal progress, but can’t I do it later?

I am no quitter, though. Once I start on something, I tend to finish, even if it takes me, oh, just about forever. When I determined that I was going to become an airline pilot I started earnestly but ultimately took six years from starting to employment for an airline. With a family and a “regular” job, some of this delay could not be avoided, but to be fair, I wavered in my urgency during the process. It was only when finances got tight(er) and I was not hired for a full-time position as a Chief Flight Instructor at Utah Valley University that I realized it was time to pick up the pace and get it done. Nine months later I started my training in Atlanta with Atlantic Southeast Airlines.

Sometimes, however, my tendency to finish what I start has gotten in the way of progress. Shortly after graduating with my Bachelors from BYU I was introduced to an insurance marketing company, World Marketing Alliance (WMA, now World Financial Group, or WFG). I was assured that with effort I could build my own company within a company by selling investments and insurance and recruiting others to do the same. Essentially it was a financial services Amway. I stayed with it for seven years, several full-time, and never made much money. It was always around the corner, just requiring a little more effort. When I realized that the only thing I could offer potential recruits was near-poverty I knew it was time to pack it in. From this I have learned that you need 1) a goal, 2) a plan of action including a timeline, and 3) an exit strategy. Especially in business, if you aren’t seeing progress, you need a way to cut your losses and move on. But regardless, without a timeline it is very difficult to measure your progress.

In both these examples I did have a goal, and varying degrees of a plan, but it was never well clearly set out. I also definitely lacked urgency throughout the projects. I expected that because I was working toward the goal that things would work out, without taking the pace into account. Had I had greater urgency, I would have moved much more quickly, or in the case of WMA, I would have succeeded or moved on. A timeline to measure my progress would have made a real difference.

I think another lesson learned was be sure that whatever you take on is something you can really commit to. I was fully dedicated to becoming a pilot, wavering only when my training schedule slowed down to a crawl the second year. In the case of WMA, I always felt like I should be more committed, but it was never something that I could stay passionate about. Enthusiasm can wane, that’s natural, but if you’re going to commit to a major goal make sure it’s something that speaks to you at a fundamental level.

So what are my goals today? I’m currently working on three mains goals, in no particular order: 1) to shift my financial planning practice to focus on 401(k) advice, 2) to learn Arabic by 2013, and 3) to become a better parent. More on these in future blog entries!