Locks Make the Impossible Possible – Even with Finances

Posted On 6 February 2024

Last updated on April 10th, 2024

Locks can mean different things to different people. Most people when they hear the word “lock” probably think of what a key goes in on a door. Hairdressers would think of hair. The locks I am writing about are also called navigational locks or waterway locks. They are the ingenious system that allow boats or ships to go uphill or downhill. Seems impossible, doesn’t it?

You might be saying to yourself, “So what! Locks can work wonders with ships. I’m here to learn about personal finances.” When we apply the concept of locks to our finances, it can help get us to where we want to go.

Let me start off by telling you how locks work. Then, I’ll relate how the concept of locks can be applied to our finances and how you can use them to your advantage.

How Locks Work

Locks are used in canals so that boats or ships can either ascend or descend to a different level of the canal. In the Panama Canal there are a total of 6 locks that a ship has to passes through on its journey from ocean to ocean. These locks are needed because the main part of the canal and Guntan Lake are 85 feet above sea level! To ascend with a lock, the ship enters through the bottom gate with the top gate already closed. Once the ship is in the lock the lower gate is closed. Water is brought into the lock to raise the water level to the upper level. Then, the top gate is opened, and the ship moves into the water at the higher level. To Descend, it’s the same process, just reversed. Here are a couple illustrations of how locks work.

We control Our Finances

So, how can the concept of locks for ships can be used with personal finances? Just as locks give us control over different water levels in canals, we can take control of our finances.

We can adjust the valves that control the flow of money in our lives. Sometimes we need to slow down the out-flow of money so we can raise ourselves to the higher level. There can be other times (such as working on a certification or university degree) when the money is flowing out and our wealth is decreasing.

While it is good to increase our net worth, sometimes it makes more sense to invest in ourselves and our futures. This can require us to take a temporary dip in net worth.

Simple Process for Challenging Task

Locks are a simple solution to get ships to another level. We can take our life to the next level by adjusting our cash flow.

The best place to start with adjusting our cash flow is to track our expenses. When we track our expenses, we can often find that we are spending money on things we don’t really need. Some of these expenses can be replaced with a cheaper alternative – like brewing coffee at home. Some expenses we can even cut out for a short time period – say a month.

Locks Take Time

Going through a lock takes time. Ships usually spend 10 – 15 minutes in the lock while the water level adjusts to the new level. When we make some changes to our finances, we won’t see the effects immediately.

The changes in our finances do come, and after a while the changes are noticeable. For example, I have worked a whole month at a new job before getting my first paycheck. Yes, it sucked! Yes, I did get paid for my work. After getting into the rhythm of the paycheck cycle the money came in regularly.

Diverting money into our savings account can be set up to happen automatically. There is no excitement with this. The balance doesn’t just shoot up. After a few months, though, we can look at the balance in our savings and feel good! Maybe the balance had not grown at all in the previous year or two. Now it is growing!

Locks are the “Easy Way”

It takes a ship 8-10 hours to travel the Panama Canal. For a container ship to sail from Miami, FL to Los Angeles, CA by going around South America the trip is 15,579 nautical miles and would take over 32 days. Sailing through the Panama Canal the trip is only 4,938 nautical miles and would take 10 days!

While a ship has to stop in a lock, it gets to its destination faster because it is taking the shortcut that the canal provides. It can seem counterintuitive to get somewhere faster by stopping, but if the plan includes the stop, it can be faster. Sometimes a LOT faster!

Locks can be Arranged in a Series

When a shipping route has to change elevation more than a single lock will allow, multiple locks can be used. The ship will use one lock, then proceed to the next lock, and maybe even a third lock.

Going through a lock in the sense of personal finances could be getting a certification or cutting out some expenses for a month. We could have multiple classes to take. Another possibility is that we could extend our money fast from one month to 2 or 3 months. It all depends on what we are wanting to accomplish.

Anybody Can Get the Same Results

Using the concept of financial locks in our life is available to everyone. It’s a system and it doesn’t care about your background or your preferences. It works if you use it.

When we apply a system to our lives, we will get predictable results. When we are going through this lock we may feel like we are not making any progress. The truth is that we are making BIG progress!

Are You Going Where You Want to Go?

Getting real with ourselves, is the first step in fixing anything in our life. We need to admit that what we need to work on is a mess. And possibly not pretty, either.

The beautiful thing is that we can change our life if we choose to. The first step is to acknowledge where we are. Next, we need to take the action to change our life. We cannot change it all at once, although we can change it bit by bit.

There is no way a person could eat a 100-pound bag of potatoes in one meal. Over time (and enough meals) a family can easily consume the whole bag. The same is true for changing our finances. When we apply a system to our finances, keep at it, and accept that it will take some time, we will see the changes we want.

You have the power to change your finances. Hopefully, this concept of using locks with our money is something that helps you. You can become financially unstoppable!