When I was growing up, all the kids in my neighborhood used to get together during the summer days to play wiffle ball. I admit I was a bit of a tomboyand LOVED playing backyard ball. I have to say, I was pretty much the star hitter. I batted left-handed and could hit that wiffle ball pretty far. As I got older, my eyesight started to get worse. As my eyes got worse, so did my hitting.
I started striking out. A lot.
It was frustrating because I loved playing, but I hated feeling like I couldn’t control my hitting. so I decided to do something about it. The way I saw it, I had another option – I could just learn to bat right handed. So I set my mind to do just that.
But boy it was hard, and I just could not figure out why. Everyone else said it was easy, but it took me a long time to get the hang of it. When you’re 12 and it’s summer and you aren’t playing, life is not good. But I stuck with it, and after hours of practice, and drill and repetition, I did manage to learn to bat right handed.
So why was it so hard? It was hard because it felt so unnatural and it wasn’t what I was used to. In reality the hard part was learning NOT to bat left-handed. Just as much as I was learning a new thing, I had to let go of another thing that I was far more comfortable with. Plus, I had to do all this in the middle of the season. It’s not like there is off-season training in Maine for 12-year-old wiffle ball players.
Sound familiar? After working with YNABers through private coaching and webinars for over a year now, I’m convinced that there are two main reasons why people have a hard time getting started with YNAB.
1. Learning YNAB isn’t necessarily hard, but UN-learning the way you were managing your money is.
Think about it. About the time you come to YNAB you’ve probably been handling your money one way for a long time – maybe decades. That’s a fairly strong habit to break. I’ve heard it said it takes 21 days to create a new habit. When you are feeling frustrated that’s a long time.
2. When people come to YNAB, things are not going well financially.
Let’s be honest, no one looks for a budgeting or financial solution if your money situation is going great. Often folks are in crisis, stuck in overdraft, mired in credit card debt, in danger of losing their homes. It’s difficult to learn a new skill in the middle of all of that.
It’s like learning to swim while you are drowning. Can you imagine how hard that would be? Of course, if you’re drowning, it’s imperative that you keep kicking so your head stays above water.
But honestly, if you had to learn to swim while you were drowning, you’d take all the help you could get. If someone threw you a life preserver, you’d grab for it wouldn’t you? I’m sure I would have learned how to bat right-handed much sooner if I’d had help or instruction.
So to those of you who may be new to YNAB, don’t be afraid to reach for a life preserver. We have many free resources available to you. There’s no question it’s hard to learn this when things aren’t going well financially, but we at YNAB are glad to help.
Batting right-handed did increase my batting average and learning to manage your money with YNAB will definitely increase your bank account balance.
Keep swinging!
Erin
YNAB Coach
If you’re eyesight was the issue/problem, how did it help to hit from the right side instead of from the left side? It seems to me that a vision problem would be easier corrected with glasses/contacts than turning yourself around at the plate…What am I missing here?
Thanks, Phil Bergt
Thanks for the insight….Changing is hard but it will be worth the effort.I am over-budgeted and minus $253/ mo for the last 2 months.I applied for a census job and hope I will get some part time work, soon.I have a full time job and it looks like ( thanks to the new Governor) 4 days of no pay in the next year and 1.5% to be contributed to medical are forthcoming, a total of $1300.At least I know those rims for my car that I want (not need) are out of the question.I am now batting lefty just trying to put the ball in play and right hand slugging or going for the fence has become a thing of the past.
Hi
I bought YNAB Pro quite a few months ago but didn’t use it because “it won’t work for me as I have an overdraft’…..then Erin told me you can use it even if you’re overdrawn. But I thought, no it won’t work, for various reasons, all not true of course. I was just afraid of the unknown and to face the truth!
Then I reached the stage where I couldn’t sleep at night because of my debts and finally contacted a government backed organisation (in the UK) who told me what to do. I have cut up my credit cards and written to my creditors AND I have started using YNAB Pro and I got it to reconcile first time with my bank account AND so far, I understand the register, budget and scheduler and I had convinced myself I wouldn’t. It makes so much sense but I couldn’t do it without YNAB. I think I still have a lot to learn but I’m quite chuffed with how good it makes me feel just taking control of my finances (lacking thought they are) AND I might add I am 50 years old and for the first time I am beginning to understand how to budget, so it’s never too late! I am looking for another job to supplement my income and pay off my creditors and can sleep at night and can see brighter days ahead.
I shall upgrade to YNAB 3 when I can afford it ie when I have a budget for it!!
THANK YOU YNAB!!!
Karen
Please give Karen Black one of those free copies of YNAB3!! I vote for her!!
Phil,
Why the difficulty hitting left or right? The issue is that most of us have one eye which functions as the dominant one. Try this out by sighting down a gunbarrel or a stick and then check to see what happens when you close one eye, and then the other. You will discover that you are pointing at two different targets. Some who have sustained injury or damage to one eye, as I have, understand the difficulty in learning to see “accurately” with a new view. It takes time and practice. Glasses present their own problems as we learn to see a moving target through changing focal points. The ball simply goes in and out of focus during its trajectory. Its what finally drives many ball players into retirement. The can no longer hit the moving target.
Thanks Erin for the great analogy.
Larry O’Keefe
Excellent post, but yes, I had the same question as Phil. What gives, Coach?
Erin,
Thank you very much for providing your wonderful story.
Your batting story (YNAB) is about a paradigm shift. Your example of always batting left handed is like looking at all your bank accounts (other financial software) not see where you are really going (looking in the rear view mirror). The paradigm shift is when you started batting right handed. The paradigm shift for me was YNAB’s Rule 2 of giving you money a purpose rather looking at my accounts. Since me switching to YNAB3 as my budget and financial software, I am finally seeing the big picture in the future rather than viewing the past.
Again thank you YNAB for providing your courses, online support, “Whiteboard Wednesday” , blog, wonderful software…….
Now I understand my problem — I’m a left-handed budgeter!
Thanks for your support and encouragement, Jesse.
Amy :)
Thanks everyone for your comments. You know, it’s an interesting comment about the glasses. I’m honestly not sure what it was with the vision all those years back. I didn’t need glasses at that time, so perhaps I was just off my game. :) Perhaps it was just frustration that things weren’t going the way I wanted them to that made me try a different approach. But the main point was simply that not only was I learning a new skill, I also had to let go of the old way of doing things. And it was the same way when I started using YNAB 4 years ago. YNAB had these “rules”, and I thought, “Well that’s not how I’ve been doing things.” But the truth was – what I was doing wasn’t working and had landed me in credit card debt. I had to learn to “trust the budget” and forgot the old ways. And I’m glad I did – I’m pleased to say that I paid off the last of that credit card debt last month! Learning the new skill of budgeting was completely worth it. :)
@Karen – Congratulations on the turnaround! That’s outstanding!
I think I am missing something.
Why would learning to bat right-handed improve anything? If the problem is your eyesight, why would switching sides make a difference?
I get the moral of the story (change is tough, but keep at it and it will pay off). But I am curious .. would your batting average have improved if you had put the same effort into improving your left-handed swing? Could you have improved even more with contacts or glasses?
It seems to me that the same kind of thing goes on about our money. We figure out that our money situation isn’t working, so we change something (new bank, new program, budget, Carrows instead of Macaroni Grill.). But we don’t address the real problem .. **spending in excess of earning**. So we try a new tool, or transfer debt to lower interest cards, or clip coupons. But we never hit the real impact items .. increasing income and/or cutting lifestyle. So things get a bit better (underwater $200/month instead of $300), but the problem is never resolved.
YNAB is a fabulous tool, but it needs to be used to address the right things, otherwise the problems don’t go away.
I think everybody approaches the world of family finances with their own set of rules. The problem is, they really don’t realize what those rules are. “I just do it” you will hear them say. Half the problem in learning anything new is letting go, but you can’t do that if you don’t know what you’re holding onto.
Speaking as a left-hander who only recently discovered that i am right-eye dominant – which explains why i was terrible at sports in school – it is AMAZING the difference from simply switching. My son is also left-handed but right-eyed, and we caught him early enough that he plays sports right-handed – and seems to enjoy them.
The gun-barrel idea is good; another way is to hold your hands out at arms-length and make a diamond with your thumbs and index fingers. Looking through the diamond, focus on something a ways off (tree, car, wife). Now, move the diamond towards your face but keep that object in view. You will end up with one eye covered and one eye still looking at the object far away. It’s weird, because our brains adapt so well, but that’s the way it works!
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