How are you these days? Harassed with Christmas activities? Have you been overspending? And I mean not just your money but also your time and energy in trying to fulfill all the holiday things to do. Sometimes we wonder, “Why am I doing this again? Why am I rushing again when I already said last year, and the many years before that, that I’ll plan and prepare early to avoid getting caught in this crazy holiday frenzy?”
Well, if it will make you feel any better, you are not alone in this predicament.
In the many aspects of life, especially the important ones, there is always a big gap between our intention and action. This is the disconnect between our stated intention or goal and our actual behavior.
Despite having clear intentions such as early Christmas shopping, saving and investing, exercising, eating healthy, we oftentimes fail to achieve these goals due to various psychological, emotional, and even situational factors. Remember, we are both Makatwirang Mak and Emotional Emong as discussed in "FQ Book 2." In order to help our Mak win over our Emong, we need to help it more deliberately.
How I overcame my own intention-action gap in 2024
In 2023, I already made plans to finish and publish FQ Book 3: "High FQ by Design (Shape your environment for a financially healthy you," the third and final installment of the "FQ Trilogy." During our annual family goal setting, I shared that this was my major 2023 goal. I was optimistic and confident that I would achieve it. But I failed. So, in 2024 when I was re-stating it as my major goal in 2024, I knew I had to make drastic changes. I offloaded some regular activities, made a more realistic but more strictly-implemented timetable, and set an immovable deadline: My milestone birthday as the launch date. I used the power of design to finally finish my book on using the power of design!
It wasn’t a walk in the park and there were times I lost confidence in achieving it, but I did it! And so, it was indeed a very important moment for me—to celebrate these two milestones in my life: turning senior and concluding the "FQ Trilogy"!
In my previous book launches, I always delivered the so-called author’s speech. Here are the links if you wish to watch them:
"The Retelling of the Richest Man in Babylon"
"FQ Book 1: FQ The nth Intelligence"
"FQ Book 2: Why Financial Education Alone Does Not Work back-to-back with The Psychology of Money"
For the launch of FQ Book 3, I decided to do it differently. Instead of delivering an author’s speech, I asked my three sons, Martin, Enrique, and Anton to have a fireside chat with me. I thought of this when I realized that my three FQ Books were spaced exactly how my three sons are spaced—I delivered the boys three years apart and delivered the three FQ Books three years apart!
Instead of writing about that wonderful conversation, let me share with you the video of my fireside chat with my three sons.
I was smiling while watching this video. I hope you enjoy it too. Hopefully, you will be able to use an insight or two from it that will help you design not just the financial aspect but all the important aspects of your life in order to avoid intention-action gaps. Let us all use the power of design to live our dream lives!
Merry Christmas to all of you!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. If you want to give the gift of high FQ to yourself and your loved ones, consider gifting them with FQ Book 3 "High FQ by Design (Shape your environment for a financially healthy you)" or the "FQ Trilogy." Click here to place your order.
2. Have you taken the FQ Test? If not, spend five minutes to know where you are in your financial journey. Click here.