Panic Stations
If you keep track of your finances and balance the books, this will happen less often, but it may still happen. I have this pretty much every February because my business and car insurance and car tax all come due at once – sending me into a 5 minute stress where I realise I will have to put the Caribbean holiday on hold again. The key moving on from ‘Panic Stations’ is not to stay there panicking, but find a way to get out of the overwhelm quickly. You will find your own way out of it, and some of the ideas in this book will help you in the long term.
But for now, I just want you to look at when you get into panic. When was the last time? What happened? When was the time before that? What happened then? And other times? Do you notice any patterns emerging? When I first did this exercise, I noticed that I had a mad panic every month at the beginning of the month – in that gap between my invoicing going out and coming in.
There was always a late payment that I was expecting that sent me into a total tailspin…because my financial margins were so slim. Once I’d noticed what set me off, I could take steps to sort it out (for example by getting ahead of myself so I had time to collect outstanding debts). The next time the same trigger happened, I could shift myself out of it more quickly. Again, this is about finding out where you are so that you can find your way out.
Other potential triggers:
– ‘unexpected’ bills – the kind that come once a year, and always slip your mind
– emergencies – like car repairs or new boilers
– Conversations with your accountant/spouse/father, who always looks on the bleak side
– The weekend before payday – knowing that there is another week to go before you’ll have any money.
Once you know your triggers, you can start to put plans in place that will help you to be able to get past these moments into financial serenity.
£ exercise: Looking at the times you have visited ‘panic stations’, how did you sort out the situation? What would have prevented each situation? What can you do (or start to do) today to stop this ever happening again? Or at least make it easier on yourself if and when it does happen again.
You may think ‘that’ situation will never happen again – and you may well be right, but you may have a similar situation come up. This is not closing the stable door after the horse has bolted; it is ensuring the stable door is secure so that the horse won’t be able to bolt again. And keeping you in financial serenity instead of in financial meltdown on a regular basis.
Love
Donna.x