What is a Financial Olympian? It might first help if we briefly look at what it means to be an Olympian in the more popular sense. Unless you’ve been under a rock these last few weeks, you can’t help but have heard about the Olympic games going on in London right now. Athletes from all over the world have converged on London to compete against one another in their sport. Getting so far as the Olympic games requires a few things. You’ve got to have some talent, sure, but all the talent in the world won’t get you there by itself. You’ve got to have dedication, perseverance, and a no-quit attitude.
Being an Financial Olympian isn’t much different. Once again, talent only plays a very small part. You don’t need to know numbers inside and out, but merely how to add, subtract, and maybe multiply and divide. O.K., that might be an oversimplification, but you really can get away with just those skills, so long as you add in the others to top it off.
Financial Dedication
Like an Olympic athlete, a Financial Olympian must be dedicated to the performing at their peak ability. Neither takes a day off. Neither takes it easy. Each pushes themselves to be the best at their event as they possibly can be. It’s their dedication that gets them up in the morning to train, and it’s the Financial Olympian’s dedication that gets them to the table to do their budget, pay their bills, and to manage their money as best as they can.
Financial Perseverance
When an Olympic athlete fails, do you know what they do? They redouble their efforts, get up a bit earlier the next day, and train harder and longer than they have before. They are driven to continually improve their performance so that they don’t fail again. When a Financial Olympian fails, they do the same. They work harder at maintaining their finances. They get up a bit earlier, find new ways to increase their income through second jobs, better jobs, better positions, and even passive income sources, and they work hard to improve their knowledge of personal finance.
Financial No-Quit Attitude
If you want to be an Olympian, whether it be in the 100m Freestyle or in the realm of number-crunching personal finance, quitting is never an option. Any Olympian will fail. Just in the last week, I’ve seen Michael Phelps, the Olympian with the most medals in the history of the Olympics, lose several times. Does he quit and leave the next race to the other Olympians? Not a chance. He has a no-quit attitude. A Financial Olympian does too! If you break your budget or save less then you intended, you don’t throw your hands up and go on a spending spree. No, you figure out why you failed, you pull out a little of that dedication, add a bit of perseverance, and move on to the next month’s budget!
Are you a Financial Olympian? Do you have the dedication, perseverance, and no-quit attitude to make your personal finances the best they can be?
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I wouldnt call myself an olympian just yet, but I’m working on it. It has been very difficult to focus on finances this summer, but now my wife and I are going to get on board and get a plan!
Not only do I think I am an Olympian, I won “medals” before in the real world. Perseverance for me is determination to overcome whatever obstacles (hurdles) that occur. I couldn’t resist the track reference.
I’d like to think I am an Olympian and will be getting medals as my financial Olympic career continues over my lifetime!
It’s a takes a very special person to not quit after defeat. That’s probably why so many people are in debt today. They find it easier to not look back at the mistakes they made and instead, ignore them only to repeat the same bad habits.
Hmm… actually, when I think about it, I’m NOT a financial Olympian. I had to force myself to stop comparing my financial habits with others. And since the basis of the Olympics is competition and comparison, I guess I’m disqualified from this analogy 😛
Long term goal setting is key. An Olympian trains for something that can be up to four years away. Similar to that, you can’t expect your financial situation to be cured/fixed/improved overnight. You have to have long term discipline.
Comparing, in regards to “what do they have” is one thing. I don’t think that you can go wrong, necessarily, by comparing your good financial habits with others, can you?