I just finished the 7 Bridges Marathon in Chattanooga, Tennessee this past weekend and can't help but see the training involved as a great metaphor of each of our personal and financial lives.
For a marathon someone must train for several months in order to run the race injury free. I have trained 4 days per week since March 2011 in order to run the marathon in October. Some of those training runs were 2 mile runs, some 6 miles with a long run on the weekend. Twice I ran 24 miles on those weekend runs. Without the seven months of training, I would have struggled to finish this run without walking part of the way or being injured.
Our lives are the same. It isn't difficult to see some of the steps we should take in order to have financial health- balanced budget, save for retirement, save for an emergency fund, pay bills on time. Taking these and other productive steps every week will allow us to avoid debt, retire with income, handle emergencies and have good credit.
In our personal lives the steps are just as easy to notice. Say I love you to those who are important to us, pray regularly, thank others for assistance, and smile often are all possible steps to take in order to lead lives of significance.
Consider what you could do regularly that would make your life better.....and then do it!