Hey there,

I want to talk about a sentence I hear almost every week. Sometimes from clients, sometimes from women in my DMs, and honestly, sometimes from the voice in my own head.

"I wasted so much time."

It usually shows up right after a big realization. You look at your bank account, your career, your relationships, your city, and something doesn't match the picture you thought you'd have by now. And instead of getting curious, you get cruel. You go back through the last ten or twenty years like a prosecutor building a case against yourself.

Today I want to make the case for the defense.

Picture two women.

The first one went all in on her career. She built something impressive. Maybe she ran a department, maybe she built a seven-figure business, maybe she was the one everyone called when things broke. She made real money. Then one morning around 42, she looks up and realizes she never slowed down long enough to build the family, the friendships, or the life outside of work she always assumed would "come later." And she says: I wasted time.

The second woman did the opposite. She prioritized people and experiences. Trips, dinners, weekends with the kids, saying yes to fun. She was present for everything. Then one morning around 41, she opens her statements and sees $100,000 in debt and almost nothing saved for retirement. And she says the exact same thing: I wasted time.

Two completely different lives. One identical conclusion.

That should tell you something. The problem isn't the path either of them took. The problem is the story they tell about it once they wake up.

Here's what I want you to hear. The woman who built the career didn't waste those years. She learned how to lead, how to earn, how to build. Those skills don't evaporate because she wants something different now.

The woman who chose family and fun didn't waste those years either. She has memories she would never trade. She built relationships. She knows how to enjoy her life, which, trust me, is a skill a lot of high earners never learn.

Both of them lived the life they chose at the time, with the information and priorities they had at the time. Now they've woken up to something new. That's not failure. That's growth. And growth always means you get to adjust.

I spent more than 20 years in financial services before I left corporate in 2023. Could I look back and pick apart every year I "should have" launched sooner, invested differently, or said no to something? Absolutely. But every one of those years taught me something I use today, in my coaching, in my programs, and in this newsletter. I'm glad I went through it. That's called being a human being. That's called life.

Think about your favorite book or movie. Is there a single one worth reading where the main character makes every correct decision from page one? No conflict, no wrong turns, no moment where everything falls apart?

Of course not. That book would be unreadable. The adversity is the story. The wrong city, the wrong job, the wrong relationship, the debt, the burnout: those are the chapters that make the turnaround mean something.

Nobody plays it perfectly. Not the billionaire, not your most put-together friend, not the finance influencer with the perfect morning routine. Everybody has chapters they'd write differently. The women who build real wealth and real peace just stop treating those chapters as proof they're behind.

This is a money newsletter, so let me connect the dots, because this belief costs you in very real ways.

When you believe you wasted time, three things tend to happen.

You freeze. Shame is heavy. It makes you avoid your accounts, skip the budget conversation, and put off opening the retirement plan, because looking at it feels like looking at evidence against you.

You overcorrect. You try to "make up for lost time" with risky investments, get-rich-quick schemes, or an all-or-nothing plan you can't sustain. Panic is a terrible financial advisor.

You discount what you already have. You forget the skills, the network, the equity, the experience, and the resilience you built during those "wasted" years. Those are assets. You just aren't counting them.

The woman at 41 with $100K in debt still has 20 or more working years ahead of her. That's a long runway. The woman at 42 with money but no family still has time to build the relationships and life she wants, and she has the resources to do it with more freedom than most. Neither of them is too late. Both of them just need a plan that starts from where they actually are, not from where they think they should be.

If that "I wasted time" story is creeping up on you right now, here's what I want you to do this week.

The years behind you are not a debt you owe. They're the backstory. And the best part of any story is when the main character wakes up, realizes she wants something different, and starts making moves.

That's you. Not at 25. Not "when things calm down." Now.

You didn't waste your time. You lived it. Now go build the next chapter on purpose. 💛

With love and belief in you,
Najma Zanelli
Explore Offerings
Founder, NAZ Global Consultancy
Follow me on IG: @najma_zanelli
Email: [email protected]

P.S. If you're ready to stop replaying old chapters and start planning your next one, reply with the word CHAPTER. I'll personally get back to you, and we can talk about what working together 1:1 could look like for you.