Plan Diligently and Accept Failures Gracefully

"The plans of the diligent end in profit, but those of the hasty end in loss" – Proverbs 21:5

When reading this proverb, I am reminded that hasty plans end in loss but they often end in frustration, too. In my lifetime, I hope to say "I love it when a plan comes together" more often than the phrase "I guess that's how the cookie crumbles." I believe the proverb refers to two types of currency: money and time. If we take the time to plan ahead, we often find that there more money to be made (or more money to be saved) and less time spent - which, if you believe in the phrase "time is money" then it's all just money. haha

Let's take Christmas for example - the Average American spends about $1,000 for Christmas on their family and friends. On the flip side, the majority of Americans say that they can't afford to spend $1,000 on an emergency. People who diligently plan for Christmas by putting it into their yearly budget and put money into their savings for emergencies are far better off than the masses who don't. Their plans include the good times and the bad. It's unfortunate that so many of those who don't do this type of planning suffer even greater loss when these events come up and they're unprepared. If they find themselves using credit and unable to pay their bills in full, their loss comes in the form of interest payments.

If you find yourself in those situations, I implore you to find some time to set up a budget. If you're in debt, you should create some structure around how you're going to tackle that debt. If you'd like some help getting started, we're here to help! Just reach out to us and we'll find a time to get you started. We're not professionals by any means, but that means we won't charge you anything either!

Here are some things we could talk about to help you start planning for a better future: What do you want out of life? What are your financial goals? What are your current debts and have you stopped accruing more debt? What are the types purchases that got you to where you are now? What are some of your most valuable purchases? Do you find joy in accumulating things? Do you want to be able to retire some day? I think that if you are in debt and you start asking yourself these questions, you've got a good start before you reach out to us.

Though Camilla and I plan quite a bit, we sometimes find ourselves failing regardless of how much preparation we've done. Our communication with one another is our greatest asset as a couple, but even that's not enough sometimes! We stumble and fall and find ourselves failing every so often, but we usually have set realistic expectations for ourselves with some optimism sprinkled in there. When we want to get something done together, we talk about our goals, what roles we want to play (if there are tasks to be divided up), possible pitfalls, and what a realistic level of success looks like. We even sometimes talk about what it would mean to fail, and our level of comfort with that possibility.

It's important to consider failure, especially if our task is challenging. We have to be okay with failure - it helps us get up faster and move on to the next thing. The best thing about how we work is that we're always helping each other back up and reaffirming one another with kind words. Between the two of us, I'm the one who tends to dwell on failures. I often think about "what we could have done differently" and "what we could do better next time." It takes more time for me to get out of a slump, but Camilla is always there to help me get going again.

I think that planning is incredibly important in life. Planning a wedding, preparing for a home purchase, planning to have kids (preferably with Natural Family Planning in mind), planning for daily/weekly/monthly meals, preparing for any possible loss of income, preparing for medical bills, planning a funeral, preparing your family for your loss by getting documents in order, and so much more. Unfortunately, all of those critical times in our lives are heavily intertwined with our finances. You can see how even the Proverbs of old continue to apply to our lives even in this day and age.

Overall, I think God wants us to be good planners, but also be okay with failures. Failures often humble us if we choose to reflect on them. Humility is like a muscle - when we accept it more and flex that muscle, we get stronger because of it. As we continue to grow in love with one another, I think Camilla and I will have many successes, but we will definitely also see many failures throughout our lifetime together. We will hopefully be patient and persistent in how we accept those experiences and take you along for the ride!

If there is anything we can do to help you grow in this area, please feel free to reach out. We'd love to help!

Diligently yours,

Khang

P.S. As always, you can reach out to us by emailing us at FaithAndFI@gmail.com