Managing Stress

Thursday

Dec012011

Managing Stress

Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 12:34AM

Stress comes in more forms than I care to talk about. I was inspired to blog about stress by the latest issue of Time Magazine - probably one of the best I have read in a while. One of the issues central articles was all about the science of anxiety and how we can either use it as a muse to push forward or to paralyze us. Maybe it is because I have had a bit of extra stress in my life as of late that I could not put the article down. I mean it was so good that I even went back through it to read all the little text around the pictures and diagrams. Instead of just regergitating what the article said and trying to cleverly put my own spin on it I figure we could talk a little about financial stress and how it makes us oh-so-irrational.

I CAN HAZ STR3SS NAO! If you missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday you probably saw on your local news that someone, somewhere, was trampled for something that in the big picture was not a neccessity. Extreme shopping is where I want to start - well it is really irrationality or rationalizing that is the start. If you were out there though and you made it home safely and victoriously nice work. Let’s break down what some of the true costs are when we are trying to derive the value of saving 35%-75% off of selected items. Afterwards you tell me how rational it sounds. Remember costs aren’t always amounted directly in dollar figures - what are the opportunity costs of our time and the expenditures of other resources.

If you went out you had to drive out early and wait in line. Right there are emotional costs of cutting a holiday short, gas costs for the drive, the time you could have been using to de-stress (you can’t say that there isn’t some elevated stresses around big holiday gatherings) and what ever funds you spend keeping warm/hydrated/fed during the wait. The doors swing open and everyone piles in. For those that were injured there are now medical bills and businesses have increased costs associated with heightened security and just barely skirting around some states Blue Laws. You get in line and look at your carriage - you might have saved on your big ticket items but what about peripherals. Batteries, cords, hardware, mice, keyboards, etc. What does that budget or plan still look like that you had at the start. If you had one at all?! Add up all those costs. Is it still less then the savings you thought you were going to scoop up from the doorbusters? Still feel like a rational person?

Next is rationalizing. This is one of my favorite issues to confront my own clients on. We are all guilty of it (me included). Creating carefully pieced together mental environments that give weight to the financial decisions we make. How much did I really need that extra item? Will spending just a little bit more provide the total value I was looking for? If the financial markets are losing and the Euro is falling then everyone is losing and I should take my losses and buy gold right? The stories we tell ourselves create the constructs that allow all these decisions to be made. Most of the time the consequences might be minimal - just a little off target. Couple rationalizing with fuzzy record keeping or lack of impulse control and this is where problems start. It is imperative that you recognize when you are deviating from a plan and acknowledge that deviation. Actually and objectively weigh it or challenge the plan. If you put all your wants and goals in print but are unrealistic in how you are going to achieve them then you will be more vulnerable to rationalizing your way out of them. It takes practice and accountability. It’s not fun most of the time but it is a great way to keep your wallets financially healthy this time of year.

If you walk away from anything it should be that stress is every where during the holiday season so just get ready for it. One way to lessen the burden is to control the financial stresses as much as possible. How we do that is keeping an eye on rationalizing and being irrational. This is a great time of year to really take a look at what you have been working on all year long and evaluating it. Are you still on track to achieve your goals? When the New Year rings in will your resolutions be actionable and achievable? Is getting control of your finances on your resolution radar at all yet?!

Nunzio Bruno |

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