I recently came across the following:
Think of a car driving through the night. The headlights only go a 100 – 200 feet forward, and you can make it all the way from California to New York driving through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two hundred feet. And that’s how life tends to unfold before us. If we just trust that the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, and the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, your life will keep unfolding. And it will eventually get you to the destination of whatever it is you truly want… [by Jack Canfield]
This visual of a car driving in the dark is a powerful one.
Our minds can be a battlefield between hope and despair. And when caught between the two, taking decisions isn’t always easy. The so-called decision paralysis gets into the way.
Afraid to take the wrong decisions, people end up not making a decision at all! And this inability to make a decision can leave you frozen in your current place. Or rather, push you backwards as life and time passes through.
Reminds me of a great quote: Between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing.
Isn’t it?
When I read this headlight logic, I could relate it to the concept of Goal-based Investing. And if too have read the Detailed (Free) Goal-based Investing Guide, then even you will.
Many of your important financial goals are several years/decades away. And you don’t know what will happen during the years in between. Tragically, this ‘don’t-know’ angle is what keeps people away from taking any proper action.
But there are few who don’t want to keep living in this don’t-know state. They are willing to take action and get back the control of their financial lives.
Such people find out what are their real financial goals, and then get an investment plan linked to their financial goals.
You will agree that these are people who are at least making a genuine effort to move their financial life in the right direction.
You too need to do this. If not today, then soon.
And once you have a proper financial plan in place, you would have taken the first step. What next? Start driving with headlights on. Just take the next step. And then the next. A 20-year goal might throw in a lot of surprises in between. But as Martin Luther King Jr. said – “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.”
But it goes without saying that the destination has to be clear in mind. You can’t take a random step here and another one there. It won’t get you anywhere. You need to focus your efforts in a direction.
So remember, sort out your goals, get a clear plan and then, just focus on the next 200 feet.