As I was watching the Olympics this past weekend, I was constantly struck by the skill, grace, and pure talent each competitor exhibited. However, as we all know, there was no lack of hard work, as each of them trained for the event for years. Each move perfected, each jump practiced hundreds of times, and hundreds and thousands of hours spent practicing each move.
And then I saw the skeleton race. I saw John Daly, who had been preparing for years for this moment, slip off his groove and go flailing over the ice. I saw his head fall and his body cave inwards as he had a mile to contemplate what just happened, and, most heartbreaking of all, I saw him arrive at the finish line, head in hand.
Many of my followers are incredibly diligent about their financial health. They pay their bills on time, check their credit, and adhere to a budget. While these are all wonderful things and I'm in no way saying to stop, I think it's important to take this sobering sports moment and think about what we would do in that situation, but financially.
Sometimes we try our best, but life gets in the way. Maybe it's a divorce, a layoff, or something as simple as losing a bill. While you may feel like it's the end of your financial health, take care and know that you can recover, no matter what the damage. Even if you're looking at years of work to correct the accident, just think of your favorite sports player. When did they mess up? When did they have an accident or an injury? Did they give up?
We can't win every game, and we can't win every race. Learn to get up from a failure and keep moving and improving. As the old Japanese proverb goes: fall down 7 times, get up 8.