Do you remember your college days when so many students were pulling all-nighters while drinking cups of coffee (amongst other foreign substances?) This was usually congested around mid-terms, due dates for important term papers and final exams. Of course there were always a few students that were SO-UNCOOL and right after attending the first day of class and obtaining the course syllabus they laid out a master game plan to get a jump start on the semester.
These non-procrastinators enjoyed getting a jump start on reading chapters, doing homework, writing early drafts of their papers and were more concerned with getting a good night’s sleep the evening before a major exam than pulling an all-nighter. They enjoyed having habits and behaviors that rewarded them with an “academic margin of safety.”
These students usually performed best over long periods of time. Why shouldn’t they? They weren’t ever rushed which resulted in shoddy work. If they found errors in early drafts, they had time to re-write or make corrections. They also were able to study more and with more focus since they spread out their workload over many months rather than cramming things into the last 24 hours while jacked up on Mountain Dew (and other foreign substances).
Such is the case with wealth building. Procrastination not only doesn’t pay, rewards are magnified by starting early because of the laws of compounding interest. The sooner you start, the sooner you reach points of critical mass on capital accumulation.
Rarely do I see a scenario where somebody flat out ignored financial planning and wealth building but then pulled things around in the 11th hour (the equivalent of starting retirement planning in your 50’s or 60’s). It has happened, but it is so incredibly rare and full of special circumstances. Proper wealth habits and behaviors are usually developed much sooner in life (typically while a person is in their 30’s or 40’s).
Below are two habits that are critical to monitor as you make your way through your wealth building plan;
- Procrastinators get punished (eventually). Cramming doesn’t work in wealth building. The math doesn’t lend itself to the situation. Wealth builders are disciplined people who know how to spread out the workload into manageable and reasonable chunks. This allows them to accomplish more over longer periods of time because the task is more akin to a marathon than a sprint. The sooner an individual can get into the habit of paying themselves first, eliminating debt, and driving earnings up, their probabilities of wealth success go up exponentially. Those that start early and get the work done sooner are rewarded handsomely down the road.
- An ability to focus on what matters. Wealth builders have a certain behavioral trait that allows them to tune out a lot of noise and distraction while they pursue their goals. They carefully think about what it is they want to achieve (defined goals), and then can prioritize their lives around actions that allow them to pursue those goals. What that means is that they can focus on what matters and then say “no” to things that don’t matter. They don’t allow themselves to get pulled in so many directions that nothing ever gets accomplished. It’s better to do a few things correctly (and complete the tasks) than it is to do a thousand things incorrectly and never complete anything. This rolls over into social activities and spending patterns. You aren’t going to make your savings goal if you are constantly being sucked into spending money on goods meant to impress others in social circles that are pulling you in a thousand directions.