“Words are like the wind” Adam said with a sigh. It had been a hard couple of weeks at work and we were both growing frustrated with the lack of action being taken by upper management. Always quick to make promises, the bosses seemed to have a lot of trouble following through. It’s the kind of thing that gets to you after awhile.
Since he said it, I can’t get it out of my head, “words are like the wind”. Such a poetic way to say, “words are meaningless without action”.
It keeps rolling around in my head because I’m wondering if my words are mostly wind. If I’m honest, a hard look at my life reveals unreached dreams, broken promises, and lost potential.
More often than I’d like to admit, my words are wind.
Financially, this is devastating. I’ve always kept up on finances, but most of my friends haven’t. I’ve seen their words turn into wind without actions to back them up. Things like, “the budget is in my head” or “I’m going to save for retirement starting with my next paycheck” or even “I’m going to cut back on eating out” seem to be a mere wind blowing around without merit.
Reality check: The budget is not in your head, you aren’t going to start investing, and (if you can’t do these first two) what makes you think you’ll have the discipline to cut overspending?
The truth is, you’re dealing with wind as often as I am. We’ve both got broken promises, poor decisions, and wasted talent behind us. It’s not something anyone wants to admit, but it’s true.
What Do You Do?
A realization like this isn’t something you can just gloss over.
Most of you will. It’s likely you’re one of the thousands of people who will read this without seriously considering all the wind passing through without any actions behind it.
Don’t be like that. Take some stock in your life and ask a few hard questions:
- What promises am I breaking?
- What do I say I want to do but keep neglecting?
- Where am I untrustworthy?
Three hard questions to ask. Three answers you probably don’t have time to deal with right now.
Do it anyway.
Minimize your browser, step away from your computer, and take a few minutes to think about all the things you aren’t doing – things you always say you’ll do someday.
Now pick one of those things and start it today. Do the hard work. Make it count.
There use to be a time when a person’s word meant something. Make yours mean something again.
What aren’t you doing, even though you always say you’re about to?
Alex Humphrey is a personal finance writer and coach at EntrepreLife a personal finance blog that teaches easy ways to dominate money by dropping debt, investing well, and saving for the things you love to do. When he’s not blogging he leads a youth group, spends time with his wife, and figures out new ways to teach people personal finances. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the EntrepreLife mailing list.
Leave a Reply