Inputs and outputs
Good morning!
This was the catalyst.
While I'd see myself in the mirror virtually every day, it wasn't until I saw this picture that I knew I had to make some changes.
This was taken at our company's annual conference in the fall of 2017, and while part of me wants to say I didn't recognize myself, that's not really true.
Today, I'm tipping the scales about 40 pounds lighter than the picture above.
Of course, this has been - and continues to be - a journey. And it certainly didn't happen overnight.
Along the way, I've learned some things.
I've had to make some trade-offs.
I'm walking and generally moving around more than I used to.
I'm eating better quality food and less of it overall.
I have been and continue to experiment with intermittent fasting. It's not uncommon for my first food of the day to be at 11am or noon.
It all boils down to inputs and outputs.
I was living proof of the phrase, "garbage in, garbage out."
One of the ways I cleaned up my diet was to drink "meal replacement" protein shakes. They were relatively cheap and a quick and easy alternative to eating something less healthy.
Been drinking these for a few years now. Sometimes 2-3 in a day.
Well, last September, about the time of our most recent company conference, I started having eye problems.
Chronic redness, discomfort, blurred vision, and more.
After 3-4 trips to the eye Dr. over the following months and a whole bunch of different eye drops and warm compresses at home, there was no change or improvement.
Ultimately I thought about things in my life that could be related to my eye issues.
One of the things I tried was dialing back my protein shake consumption.
And in 3-4 days, my eyes cleared up.
To test if this was the culprit, I went back to my normal shake volume and the eye issues came right back.
So now, I'm working through the last of my protein shakes and won't order any more of them.
Looking at their ingredients, guess I shouldn't be surprised that it was a factor. Not exactly "all natural" as I can't even pronounce half this stuff.
I can still have one every couple of days with no ill effects.
But more than that and my eyes aren't happy.
I'm not suggesting these shakes are super healthy, but they are definitely better, on balance, than what I would probably otherwise have eaten in the past.
In this case, it seems to be more related to the quantity of inputs rather than the quality.
And bigger picture, regarding my weight loss over the past few years, it was a combination of both quantity AND quality of inputs (food and exercise) that led to better outputs (my weight and health).
When it comes to your financial planning, your inputs will also drive your outputs.
How long you will live is at best an educated guess, but it's an important input in your plan.
How much you save versus how much you spend is also an important input.
And if you know me at all, you'll know I'm not a fan of saving so much that you're sacrificing your lifestyle today for an "overconfident" future.
Still, you need to save "enough" and defining enough is best done in the context of your personal financial planning.
What about a health scare, whether it's your health or your child or parent?
This is another input, although one we likely won't see coming.
Just like quality and quantity of inputs will influence your personal health, so too will input quality and quantity drive your financial plan.
You don't want to over-engineer your plan. Or your financial strategies. Touched on this idea last week.
Or in the words of Albert Einstein,
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
Too many inputs can lead to a false sense of precision as well as potentially paralyze you from making decisions and putting your plan into action.
Too few inputs and you might not even have a plan. You might just have a directional guess (which is still better than nothing).
Low quality inputs can wreak havoc on the best laid plans.
But as your plan (and your life) deals with an uncertain future, we can never completely avoid the need to make some guesses along the way.
That's why your plan is worthless, but the ongoing process of planning is where the real value lives.
Regularly monitoring your plan and having regular progress checks to review and update inputs (both planned and unplanned) will lead to better, more accurate outputs over time.
Your plan is never "right."
But working together, we make is "less wrong" with each successive progress check.
Whether it's an attempt to improve your health, lose some weight, learn a new skill, or gets your arms around your personal finances, I think there's a lot of value in thinking through your inputs and the outputs they can lead you to.
How about you? Thoughts?
Links & things
Speaking of how long you're going to live, check out my latest blog post:
And speaking of not over-engineering things in your financial life, I enjoyed this recent article from Rubin Miller. Maybe you will too:
Thank you, as always, for reading.
And if you have any questions or an idea for a future newsletter, blog post, or YouTube video, I'd love your input.
Just hit reply - I read (and appreciate) every email you send.
Until next Wednesday,
Russ