Boxing, Preparation, and Your Money
Oct 30th, 2008 by Nut
I love boxing. More specifically, I love to watch the weigh-in interviews when both fighters are so cocky and so convinced that they’re going to knock the other guy out. If you don’t know anything about their records or their abilities (which I usually don’t), then you’d be hard pressed to pick a winner from listening to them talk. Each one seems legitimately convinced that they’re going to—not only win, but completely annihilate their opponent. It’s a blast to watch because you know one of them is 100% dead wrong. I love that.
Anyway, boxing has a real lesson to teach us about personal finance and spending. More specifically (love that phrase), when certain situations come up like an emergency, a product comes out that you just have to buy, or something else.
It all comes down to one thing: preparation. When boxers step into the ring, take off their robe, and dance around the ring, the match has already been decided. Very little of what the boxers do from that point on has any effect on the match. Confused? Think about it: they’ve trained for months, worked out, gotten into the best possible shape, gone over strategy, film, and talked to their trainers extensively about how they’re going to approach the fight. All the work has already been done—now it’s up to the fighter to just go in there and execute. Granted, the match could bring unexpected surprises, but a boxer can’t win the match without preparing. Even a “perfect” match won’t bring the boxer a win if he hasn’t done all the preparation beforehand.
The boxing world has seen it countless times: boxers that are superior fighters losing out to lesser opponents because they didn’t prepare properly. Whether it’s not being in shape or not working on footwork or not tailoring the approach to the specific strengths and weaknesses of the other fighter.
The same goes with your finances. You may not have an emergency fund, a budget, or realize how much you’re spending on frivolous things like chocolate ice cream every month—and that’s fine. But when the sh** hits the fan—when that bell rings—you’re in some serious trouble. If you lost your job or if your car needs a new johnson rod, it’s going to be a rude awakening.
What I’m trying to say is that what you do at the specific moment that a situation comes up has very little impact on how well or how badly it goes. Most of the work has to be done beforehand, when things seem to be going fine. Think about any sport under the sun and you’ll see how much sense this makes.
- A marathoner can’t “will” himself to win a race if he hasn’t trained thoroughly.
- You can’t decide to throw a 94mph fastball by a hitter if you haven’t worked up to that.
- You can’t skip ahead to level 17 of your favorite video game and expect to clear it.
Preparation is key. The problem is that we don’t see the warning flags that something needs to be prepared for until it’s too late. So take this article as an uppercut to your face and snap out it! Better to realize now that you need to get ready before you have more than you can handle on your plate.
Everything I know about boxing I learned from watching old ESPN Classic fights, the books Rope Burns and Cut Time, and the movies Million Dollar Baby and The Power of One. So all this comes accompanied with a fine grain of salt. Enjoy.
One of my favorite phrases out there is “You stay ready, you ain’t got to get ready.” I don’t know whose phrase it is, but I remember seeing some random guy on MTV saying it years ago and it stuck with me. Think about it: it’s brilliant!
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