by VALERIE CLARK
The plane taxis up to the gate, maddeningly slowly. I squirm in my seat and check the time on my phone. 9:56. 9:58. 10:00. Our connecting flight is due to depart at 10:16, and my husband and I will have to race all the way from gate E to gate B; not B2 or B3, but B24. Of course.
Finally, the plane pulls up to the jetbridge, the “fasten seat belt” sign turns off, and I spring up in my seat, ready to go. We rush from the plane cabin and onto the jetbridge as fast as we can, given the fact that there’s still a crowd of other passengers around us. But as soon as I get to the wide open space of the terminal, I’m hit with a surge of adrenaline and I begin to sprint, my backpack and purse thumping against me as I run. I’m going all out, wide open, and it’s kind of a thrill to run so fast indoors. I weave between other travelers as they poke along slowly with their fast food and roller bags. I nimbly dodge airport employees and oblivious kids. My heart is pounding and I am flying. I am a gazelle, outrunning a hungry lion in the African savanna! I am an Olympic hurdler, closing in on a gold medal! I am…I am…
…done.
That’s right – I started out way too fast, hit a wall way too soon (let’s be real, it was probably 20 seconds in), and drastically, tragically underestimated the distance between gates E and B. Elite athletes, one of whom I decidedly am NOT, call it “bonking” when you suddenly run out of gas and your muscles turn to goo. While I didn’t reach that stage, I can tell you that I pretty much quit caring whether or not I made the flight, preferring instead to breathe.
Nonetheless, after half-shuffling, half-walking the rest of the distance, I did actually end up making my flight. But as I sat on the plane waiting for takeoff, my heart still hammering away and my lungs burning, a couple of thoughts occurred to me.
1 – I really need to work on my cardio.
2 – No matter your goals, you won’t reach them if you don’t pace yourself.
There are so many areas in life where this is applicable. Tell me if this sounds familiar: you set a goal, determined that NOTHING is going to stand in your way. Maybe you start getting up at 4:30 every morning for a long-distance run. Maybe you decide to eat just one meal a day. That meal? It’s a salad.
Or, maybe you are so eager to achieve your financial goals that you slash your spending by 90% and take on a full-time second job. You might last a week, a month, or a few months. You might even make some incredible progress. But much like my ill-advised airport run, you start off strong, with good intentions, and quickly burn out.
Now, I’m sure there are folks out there who can set audacious goals and put in the hard work and effort to achieve them, day in and day out, without quitting. They’re the kind of people you see in your Facebook feed who achieve personal best triathlon times two days after giving birth while also maintaining an outrageously successful law career (with an Etsy store of homemade anklets on the side).
As for me? Hey, I have no illusions about my abilities and, perhaps more importantly, my willpower. In order to meet my goals, I need to do them on my own terms in a way that’s sustainable for me. For instance, instead of tearing through the airport, I should have just jogged at a relaxed pace like my common-sense-having husband did. While it was still fast enough to enable him to meet his goal of making it to the gate in record time, it was slow enough to be sustainable for the long term. Remember the Pepe Le Pew cartoons where the skunk slowly hopped along, chasing a frantic cat who could never get away, despite her speed? Be more like the skunk!
When it comes to your financial goals, know yourself and be realistic. If you set standards that will end up making your life miserable, you’ll become discouraged and lose your motivation and morale. You’ll give up. It’s much better to make incremental progress, celebrating the small victories along the way, than to aim for huge milestones at a pace that you can’t possibly keep up in the long term.
Look for small changes. Do you eat out too often? Instead of cutting out your restaurant meals completely, aim to trim them down to once or twice a week. Spending too much on clothes? Again, trim your budget instead of slashing it. If you go shopping four times a month, try for three. If you succeed, see if you can take it a step further the next month.
Just like sticking to a diet, changing your spending habits can be difficult and leave you feeling frustrated and unsatisfied. But if you make reasonable changes that you can stick with in the long term, you’ll make real progress, and all of your sacrifices will be worth it in the end!
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