An exercise to help you embrace the uncertainty of your personal economics

I’ve been thinking a lot about this fundamentally human thing: negative feelings like fear, worry, stress, overwhelm and how it relates to our financial lives.

Financial progress is often analogous to weight loss because both things take time for a true transformation to take place. You make a plan, work away it, live life, reflect on your progress, maybe stray from the course and then get back on track. Rinse. Repeat.

Even when you have a plan in place, sometimes your amygdala won’t shut up. Your fears hijack your brain, taking you out of the present moment. Doubt creeps in. Progress feels far. There’s so much to do, how could you waste time doing anything else?

If you’re feeling this way or you’ve felt this way, well, it’s pretty normal. Most of us might be hard wired to chase this idea of stability, the idea of certainty, a sense of security, however false it may be. Try to remember that it doesn’t happen all at once and to a certain extent, part of the journey is embracing the uncertainity of it all.

I made this flowchart to help remind us all that everything is a work in progress, to stay connected to our breath, change what we can, accept what we can’t, take big action, make giant strides, and don’t forget to let go and relax.

To do you best work in life, you have to be relaxed. You can’t hold your breath, you can’t be full of stress and overwhelm. You usually just have to make a plan, put in some work, leave it alone often, but always keep showing up for it. Try not to sweat all the noise, focus on the signal.