When Australia made 434 runs in a 50 over match against South Africa, it was thought that the result of the match was a foregone conclusion.
It was a world record score already by a distant margin. Additionally, team batting second would have been inundated by the pressure of such a super heavy score.
But South African batsmen decided to focus on one ball at a time rather than thinking about the entire target. The basic belief was that if Australia can, why can’t we? With this basic belief and strictly focusing on one ball at a time, things started happening. And what was thought impossible, finally happened. South Africa won the match.
When people do their financial planning, they are faced with many enormous targets. How can I generate a corpus of Rs 15 Crores for retirement? Would my children’s’ dream of a foreign college education materialise? How can I achieve my dream home? And then some more.
Worrying about all these long-term goals overwhelms them. They either give up on these goals sooner or become desperate. Patience makes way for frustration and haste. But the better way is to focus on one ball at a time. Yes, choosing one decision and sticking with that, come what may…
This decision is-focus on your savings. Yes, all you need to do is to ensure that you are saving the requisite amount on a month-on-month basis. You may need to do some adjustment, may need to become more conscious in terms of your monetary habits. Further, you may have to accelerate your saving target progressively the way a smart cricketer builds his/her inning and then up the run rate.
You will find that miracles do happen by focusing on one decision rather than keep yourself fluctuating. Further, by focusing on the present rather than worrying about the future, you get true joy of life. After all, life is NOW.
Manoj Pandey
CFP
