Beware the season of desire
Just when I’m about to switch of Twitter, I spot something that draws me back in. This kept me amused for minutes:
In urban design, a desire path is the name given to the paths that people take to make a shortcut - perhaps you've come across them.
Rather than follow the carefully planned architectural solution, people create their own route – it’s just easier, more intuitive, or just what they want.
But they’re a right mess. They often cut through grass or muddy up flowerbeds. They make a mockery of all that thought-through planning. But they’re also revealing: they show where people’s instincts really lead them.
I’m sure you know where I’m going with this
It made me think of financial planning, when clients often have their own desire paths. Humans are so easily distracted by the new shiny thing that seems a whole lot easier, plus more exciting. Yet this instinct can create just as much of a mess for their financial plans.
One planner I spoke to this week mentioned the added likelihood of this happening around Christmas when all those drinks parties with smalltalk are underway – a breeding ground for biases to emerge and desire paths to form.
We’ve all been there. All you want is to get stuck into the mince pies and mulled wine and instead you get stuck in a conversation with someone who just has to tell you how much they’ve made in crypto.
So what do you, as a planner, do?
The end of the year is a perfect time to reinforce the value of patience, perspective, and staying focused on the bigger picture via a must-read festive newsletter.
If you’ve not already got an engaging missive designed to help clients stay on the straight and narrow lined up, then I can do this for you. Just reply to this email.
But newsletters aren't just for Christmas... they provide the perfect opportunity to reinforce the value of your advice all year round. 😉
Shameless plug
On my other blog I make the claim that 1984 and 1989 were the '5 years that changed the world'via Band Aid's Do They Know it's Christmas documentary.
Rat race
Rats love driving tiny cars, even when they don't get treats. This shows how positive events – and the anticipation of them – can shape our brain’s neural functions.
It's all Greek
A Greek octogenarian has resumed his secondary education seven decades after he last attended school.
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