Ten minutes into my spin class last night, clipped in with beads of sweat forming along my forearms, Dianna our instructor said exactly what I was anticipating: “add significant resistance and feel the burn”. I turned the evil red knob below me to the right…..twice, and leaned hard into the pedals to try and maintain cadence. As my heart rate increased, breathing became more difficult, and my quads felt as if I had slathered them with Icy Hot. For the next minute and a half, my body was in great discomfort as it broke through the Anaerobic Threshhold (AT)
A question came to mind: “Why am I doing this to myself?”
The answer is, of course, discomfort during a hard workout is the price for good physical condition, and it’s worth it. A similar mindset can help us maintain good personal financial condition. Personal financial success is defined in our society, media, and songs (Weezer Living in Beverly Hills comes to mind) as a point where finally we “made it” and no discomfort or responsibility is necessary anymore.
I do not expect that I will ever be able to stop exercising and my body will just magically maintain itself. I am not seeking as much an end point as a state of being when I sweat it out on a bike. Similarly, we should think more of financial success as a condition or state, and less as a goal or end result.
The state of being in financial condition applies to all stages of our adult lives. It means we resist overspending on credit, that we try to sustain heavy contributions to savings, and continually monitor our investments. Good financial condition feels good and spills over into other parts of our lives to bring greater fulfillment, just like regular exercise.
Feel the burn, it’s worth it.
Rob Schulz
