By Marc C. Shaffer
Marc C. Shaffer is a financial advisor in Overland Park, Kansas, working with clients in the Kansas City area, Phoenix, and Utah Valley.
“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”
~Warren Buffett
A few weeks ago, I found myself doing something my life coach challenged me to make a regular habit. I took inventory.
Not of account balances or investment statements, but of something harder to measure: where my time, energy, and attention were actually going.
Think of it as a personal financial check-in, but for your calendar, your commitments, and the way you are living day to day.
Several years ago, I wrote about my experience working with a life coach in a blog titled Will a Life Coach Change Your Life? One of the most valuable lessons I learned was the importance of periodically stepping back to evaluate whether my life still aligns with my priorities.
Many of us naturally do this at the beginning of a new year, but I’ve found there’s something equally powerful about pausing halfway through the year to reflect.
When I chose Health as my Word of the Year, I assumed the focus would primarily be on exercising more, eating better, and taking better care of myself physically. Halfway through the year, I’ve realized the theme has become much bigger than that.
This year has become about growth in almost every area of my life.
- Growth as a husband and father.
- Growth as a leader.
- Growth as a financial advisor.
- Growth as a business owner.
- Growth as a person.
That realization became even clearer during our annual Strategic Planning Meeting in early May. Our entire team spent several days having open conversations about where we’ve been, where we’re headed, and what we want to build next for Searcy Financial Services and Allos Investment Advisors.
We finished the week by celebrating an incredible milestone, our firm’s 50th anniversary. It was a meaningful opportunity to honor the legacy Mike Searcy began in 1976 while also looking ahead to what the next fifty years might hold.
Our team celebrating the 50th anniversary of Searcy Financial Services after completing our annual Strategic Planning Meeting. Reflecting on the past while intentionally planning for the future made taking inventory feel especially meaningful this year.
Then life reminded us that growth rarely follows a perfectly written strategic plan.
The following week, two members of our remote team decided to pursue new opportunities. I sincerely wish them both the very best, but their departures also challenged our leadership team to ask some important questions.
How could we better prepare for future transitions?
What systems need to be strengthened?
How could we better support both our team and our clients through seasons of change?
Fortunately, we had welcomed two new team members only a few weeks earlier, and they have been thoughtful and steady as they stepped into their new roles. Even so, transitions are seldom easy.
Looking back, I’m actually grateful for the experience. Not because I enjoy unexpected change, but because it reminded me of something I’ve come to believe over the years.
Taking inventory isn’t about dwelling on what’s gone wrong. It’s about honestly evaluating where you are today so you can decide, with intention, where to go next.
As I reflected on the first half of the year, Warren Buffett’s famous quote kept coming to mind. At first glance, it sounds like successful people simply learn to say “no.” The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized that’s only part of the story.
Don’t Stop Planting Seeds
When I wrote One For All: How to Systemize Kindness, Grow Your Network, and Support Others Like It’s Your Job, my message was simple: say yes.
- Say yes to meeting new people.
- Say yes to serving your community.
- Say yes to helping others.
- Say yes to making introductions.
- Say yes to opportunities that stretch you outside your comfort zone.
Those simple decisions have changed my life in ways I never could have predicted.
Many of the opportunities I’m most grateful for today began with a simple yes years
earlier.
Every coffee meeting. Every handwritten note. Every introduction. Every volunteer opportunity. Every act of generosity.
They’re all seeds.
Most don’t produce immediate results, but over time they create relationships, trust, and opportunities that often couldn’t have been predicted. That’s one of the central themes of One For All. Just as consistent investing can give wealth time to compound, consistently investing in people can allow relationships and opportunities to grow over time.
One of the things I realized while taking inventory is that I never want to become so busy protecting my calendar that I stop doing the very things that created the opportunities I enjoy today.
Although my formal coaching relationship with Kay Blond has ended, we still meet quarterly for lunch. One lesson that continues to shape both my personal and professional life is her encouragement to regularly take inventory and intentionally evaluate where I’m investing my time, energy, and attention.
Experiments Before Commitments
Another lesson I’ve learned is to think of opportunities as experiments before viewing them as lifelong commitments. Too often, we decline opportunities because we assume one yes means we are signing up forever.
But what if you simply tried it?
- Attend one meeting.
- Volunteer for one event.
- Join one committee.
- Meet one new person.
A meeting can simply be a meeting. A volunteer opportunity can be one event. A committee can be something you try before deciding whether it belongs in your life.
Experiments create learning. Some become lifelong passions. Others simply teach us what isn’t the right fit. Either way, we’ve grown because we were willing to say yes.
When Saying No Becomes Wisdom
Eventually something changes. If you’ve consistently invested in people and embraced new opportunities, you may find that opportunities begin arriving faster than you can realistically accept them.
As I reviewed my own calendar this year, I realized many of my commitments weren’t bad. In fact, most of them were opportunities I would have eagerly accepted ten years ago. The challenge wasn’t a calendar full of bad choices. It was a calendar full of good ones, which can be even harder to sort through.
Every commitment requires an investment. It costs time, energy, attention, evenings with family, opportunities to exercise, or simply the margin needed to think clearly. None of those costs are necessarily wrong, but they deserve consideration before automatically saying yes. That’s where Warren Buffett’s quote begins to make sense. Learning to say no isn’t about becoming unavailable. It’s about remaining available for what matters most.
Three Inventories Worth Taking
As I reflected on the first half of the year, I realized I wasn’t simply reviewing my calendar. I was taking inventory in three important areas of my life.
The first was a personal inventory. Was my schedule supporting the health, relationships, and family life I say are most important? If someone looked at my calendar, would they conclude those priorities were truly reflected there?
The second was a professional inventory. Our Strategic Planning Meeting reminded me that healthy organizations continue evolving. Unexpected transitions challenged us to improve our systems, strengthen our communication, and better prepare for the future. Growth often begins by asking better questions.
The third was a relationship inventory. One of the greatest lessons from One For All is that meaningful relationships don’t happen by accident. They require intentional investment over time. I never want to become so efficient at protecting my schedule that I stop planting the seeds that have brought so much joy and purpose into my life.
I’ve often told clients that financial life planning isn’t really about money. It’s about intentionally aligning your resources with what matters most. As I’ve reflected on the first half of this year, I’ve realized the same principle applies to our calendars. Our time, energy, and attention are resources too. In many ways, they may be even more limited than our financial assets.
This is the essence of values-based financial planning: making intentional decisions about how you direct your resources, not just your money.
Take Inventory
As I begin the second half of the year, I don’t expect life to become less busy. That’s probably unrealistic. Instead, I hope to become more intentional. I want my calendar to reflect my life priorities. I want my commitments to support my health.
I want to continue saying yes to the relationships and opportunities that help me grow while learning to say no to commitments that prevent me from becoming the person I’m trying to become.
Perhaps you’ll consider doing the same.
Set aside an hour this week and review your own calendar. Ask yourself where your time, energy, and attention have gone during the first half of the year. This kind of intentional living exercise takes only a little time, but it can reveal a great deal.
Celebrate the commitments that continue bringing purpose and fulfillment. Then give yourself permission to release the ones that no longer fit the life you’re trying to build.
You may discover that the greatest opportunity waiting in the second half of the year isn’t something new at all. It may simply be the clarity that comes from intentionally deciding what deserves your next yes…and what deserves your next no.
Taking Inventory: Questions to Consider
- What opportunities have brought me the greatest joy this year?
- Which commitments consistently energize me, and which leave me feeling drained?
- What am I saying yes to because it aligns with my values, and what have I continued simply out of habit?
- If my calendar reflects my life priorities, what does it currently say about my life?
- What is one opportunity I should embrace during the rest of the year?
- What is one commitment that may be time to release?
Whether we’re evaluating our finances, our relationships, or the way we spend our time, meaningful progress often begins by taking inventory. Honest reflection creates clarity, and clarity can lead to better decisions.
At Searcy Financial, we believe financial life planning is about more than your portfolio. It’s about looking at your resources, priorities, and decisions together, then intentionally aligning your financial life with what matters most to you.
When you’re ready to take that kind of inventory together, reach out. We’d be glad to connect.