I’m not referring to Rupp Arena in Lexington or the YUM Center in Louisville, Kentucky. I’m talking about the arena of life, and specifically our financial lives.

Check out this quote from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech titled "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Don’t Be The Critic

This text has so many applications to our finances! How many times do we find ourselves criticizing others in how they handle their money? Perhaps we think enviously, “Wow! That’s a shiny new car. I wonder how they could afford that?” Or maybe it’s more critical, “Can you believe they spent all that money on a new car in the middle of this pandemic?”

How often do we point out the person who stumbles when they seemed to have it all figured out? “Did you hear so and so lost their job? Who knows how they’ll be able to pay all their bills!”

It’s so easy to find ourselves pointing out how someone else could have made better financial decisions. 

Do The Hard Stuff

Do you know what’s hard? Looking in the mirror or in the eyes of our spouse and deciding to get in the arena and take ownership of our financial situation. That is hard!

When we do this, we’ll likely get dirty and sweaty and maybe even bloody! We’ll make mistakes. We’ll miss our goals from time to time. But in the process, a few important things will happen:

• We will learn

• We will get stronger financially

• We will build financial muscle memory

• Budgeting will become easier

• Our financial situation will improve 

Why? Because we’ll be in the arena doing our best to own our finances! It’s only when we take ownership of our own situation that we can experience the excitement, devotion, and triumph of achievement! And as Roosevelt said, the worst-case scenario when we’re in the arena is that if we fail, we’ll do so knowing that we didn’t fail while sitting on the sidelines criticizing others and ignoring our own situation. 

I’ve seen this play out many times when people pay off that first debt or build that first budget. The feeling of taking control of our finances is empowering! And once you experience that first victory, the next one comes with less effort. And so it continues with each oncoming challenge.

Get in the arena today. Let me show you what victory feels like!