The word I’ve chosen is ‘less’ (or, in some contexts, ‘fewer’ because grammatical correctness matters to me!)
Given this is a financial column and I’m a financial adviser, shouldn’t it be ‘wealth’ or ‘growth’, or even just plain old ‘more’, you ask?
No. Because I believe choosing less of what I don’t want is the key to achieving more of what I do.
Do I want to be more financially successful? Absolutely. But financial success doesn’t just come from adding more – it often needs to come from subtracting too.
I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve met with who earn great money but end up making less progress than many middle-income clients. They may earn well, but they’re stressed, they’re running hard on a hamster wheel getting nowhere, and they’re burnt out.
This year, I want less of all of that.
With the end of maternity leave looming, I’m thinking as hard about what I don’t want as what I do, because each decision I make is a building block in the future I’m building for my family.
Those who manage to get ahead faster have many things in common – and the more I think about it, the more those themes come back to ‘less’.
I don’t just mean they spend less so they have more money leftover – although that’s part of it.
They spend less time accumulating ‘stuff’, spend less time looking over the fence at the Joneses, and less time procrastinating.
That clears the space, the funds, and time for what they truly value – and I think that’s where the magic happens.
Here’s why it matters.
Having lots of stuff can cost you in ways you don’t always clock. Not only do you spend money buying it, but you spend money maintaining it, cleaning it, insuring it, repairing or replacing it. Then there’s the bigger house – or storage shed – to keep it all in! Buying stuff costs money – but so does owning stuff. As a teen, my friend’s dad used to say to me that the best boat is someone else’s (and he was kind enough to let me enjoy his, but his point was – owning one is a money sink!).
Keeping up is not only inherently an expensive and exhausting exercise, but it also directs your efforts towards looking wealthy, rather than becoming wealthy – and they’re poles apart. One is fuelled by debt and stress (and, let’s be honest often vanity); the other is achieved through consistency and choices that no one oohs and ahhs over (or tends to envy).
Sitting in analysis paralysis for months costs time, energy and opportunities pass by. Those who get ahead don’t keep a “too hard” basket they’ll get to ‘one day’. They don’t wait for the stars to align for the ‘perfect’ moment. They make decisions, get moving, and keep evolving – even if it’s not perfect.
So, here are just a few of the things I’m doing to put my word of the year into action.
My household possessions are in the process of being ruthlessly edited – I want to own less ‘stuff’. If it’s not useful or beautiful – it’s on borrowed time. Clutter must have been part of my mental load, because I’m only partway through the process and I already feel calmer. Plus, as a little perk, donating items made me feel good, and on-selling some has given me a bit of cash. Intangible ‘stuff’ is next on my ‘declutter’ list – because how many streaming services can you possibly watch at once?!
I’m reviewing the things that prompt mindless consumerism (or just mindlessness) to remove triggers to spend money or time on things that don’t matter. I’m ‘unsubscribing’ to marketing emails – Gmail even has a helpful new tab for this – and I’m ‘unfollowing’ social media influencers. I’m also removing Apple Pay from my phone – because I think less convenience is a helpful circuit breaker.
I’m emptying the ‘too hard’ basket by setting aside time to plough through the financial admin. I’m setting up systems to simplify, automate and schedule – less complexity is the goal.
There isn’t a button you can click to achieve the goal of less comparison, although less time on social media will help. I’ll also be reminding myself that the only real measure that matters is ‘me’ compared to ‘past me’.
I’m setting aside a few hours to align with my husband on what we don’t want, as much as what we do – because our time, energy and money is finite, we need to intention about how it’s spent.
By focusing on ‘less’, I’m not aiming for a year of deprivation – I’m aiming for a year of clarity and calm.
I won’t nail it perfectly – but that’s another ‘less’ to add to the list: less perfection, more progress.
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