Life Changing Events – The Procrastinators Folly | Post by Mat Crawford

Life Changing Events

A read through the swathes of motivation literature will reveal that a ‘Life Changing Event’ is often the catalyst for other change in our lives. Some of these events can be positive; the birth of a child, meeting that special someone, securing a career changing job or being introduced to a life-long mentor.

Events which illicit the highest motivational force, however, are most often negative events. Events such as death, health issues, injuries, marital breakups, severe financial stress and job losses to name but a few. These can inspire great change in our lives;

• A man who suffers a heart attack gets his health back on track and loses weight
• The middle aged women diagnosed with lung cancer gives up the cigarettes
• The distant and disengaged former husband seeks counselling for depression which caused his marriage breakup
• The financially struggling widow takes out life insurance so her children will not have to go through the same financial hardship as her.
• The spendthrift couple who have had to seek financial advice to help control their spending after a job loss.
• The 60-year-old who is exploring every option to put more money into super. They now need to retire early because his wife is ill but have not saved enough

Doubling Down

All of these are significant events which have caused a positive change in these people’s lives. The problem is that they are now doubling down. They are dealing with two major events instead of one.

• A man is dealing with ongoing heart issues while also trying to exercise and lose weight.
• A woman is trying to quite smoking while also undergoing chemotherapy
• A man is dealing with his depression while also dealing with the stress of a separation from his wife.
• A widow who is now financially struggling also needs to find the money to pay her life insurance.
• A couple is learning how to control their spending while dealing with the stress of finding new employment
• A 60-year-old is now putting additional money into super and working longer when he needs to be at home and spending money on care for his wife.

Preventing Additional Challenges

By not waiting until a ‘Life Changing Event’ to make these changes, then the outcomes could have been very different.

• A man lost weight, and is now healthy, with a low risk of heart disease
• A woman quit smoking, her lung function improved dramatically, and scans reveal no major issues.
• A man sort counselling for his depression, and he and his wife are on their second honeymoon.
• A widow is financially secure, and her children’s future are secure because her late husband had life insurance.
• A couple learnt how to control spending and save and had enough money in their emergency fund to live comfortably until new employment was found.
• A 60-year-old man retired last week, to look after his sick wife, with enough superannuation to afford him a very comfortable income for many years.

In some of these examples, not procrastinating, and taking action early prevented the negative event from occurring at all. They were also much better prepared to deal with the event if it did occur, knowing that they were in a secure position. Don’t wait for a negative event in your life to spur yourself into action. You may end up taking on twice as many challenges.

To get on the front foot against negative life events, give Steve May Financial Services a call and start a conversation today.