Focus on the Things You Can Control

Left a good job in the city, workin’ for the man every night and day. But I never lost one minute of sleepin’ worryin’ ’bout the way things might have been.

— John Fogerty

Sometimes the answer to our stresses in life is to get back to basics and figure out what’s important to us, as well as what things we can control in our life. In the song quoted above, Fogerty’s writing was most likely tempered by his recent discharge from the Army Reserve (1967), after which the protagonist explores an awakening to a simpler side of life, and what turns out to be important to him.

We are often faced with similar situations – maybe we’ve been laid off or some financial calamity strikes us, and from that perspective we often discover what’s really important to us. Other times we just come to realize that our life seems out of control, and we’re searching for a way to get our comfort level back. Most importantly we can learn to not “worry ’bout the way things might have been”, and instead focus on the things about our lives that we can control.

At times we worry about interest rates, inflation, overseas unrest, the current political cycle, whether stocks are going up or down, and the baggage retrieval system they’ve got at Heathrow*. None of these things are items that you can control – for example, stocks are going to go either up or down, and no amount of worry on your part will affect the end result. The same goes with obsessing over the interest rate or inflation. Nothing you can do will change the course of these things. It’s best just to let them go, and don’t worry about them.

Now, I’m not advocating a “don’t worry, be happy” attitude, at least not completely. But there is something to be said for not letting things get you down. This can be more easily understood if you think about your life resources that you have available to you as similar in that there is a finite amount of each that is yours to use as you please:

1. Money
2. Time
3. Talent
4. Energy

In our lives we’re always making choices about how to “spend” these resources. Setting aside money for the moment, the other three (time, talent and energy) can be exchanged for money, and you can use the money to provide yourself with more time (sometimes) and more talent. Energy is one that can’t be expanded easily – and this one is where you lose out by worrying too much.

You only have so much energy available to accomplish things in your life. Whatever amount of that energy that you spend worrying about whatever is on the business news channel, then you have that much less energy to teach your son to play catch. And the end result for your financial well-being is likely to be the same whether you’re playing catch or watching the business news circus.

In addition, we often allow “the way things might have been” to dig at us over time. This stress that we put upon ourselves has no purpose – as the saying goes, “don’t cry over spilled milk”. Learn from the bad things that have happened to you, for sure. But don’t let the bad things that happened to you in the past define your future.

You have control over certain things, and it’s different for everyone. Instead of worrying about the stock market, shut off the tv, play catch with your son (or daughter), and then use your extra energy to figure out a way to maximize your IRA contributions. You’ll be far better off in the long run.

* That line is from a Monty Python routine called I’m So Worried – not their best work, but if you’re amused by the Python, I recommend giving it a listen.