Sometimes we can make our financial goals overly complicated by trying to address too many issues at one time. It does not need to be that way. Below are my 7 simple tips for creating a foundation to help your financial goals fall into place.
1. Create Challenging but Sensible Financial Goals in the First Place
You are almost guaranteed to sabotage your efforts if your goals and actions are ridiculously lofty. Yes, you want to push yourself, but don’t set yourself up to fail. Let’s use a work out metaphor: Think of someone who is 25 pounds overweight, that works at a desk all day and spends their evenings on the couch and never workouts. Would you expect them to be ready to run the Boston Marathon in 30 days? Of course, not. Make your goals challenging but achievable by matching them to where you are and you’ll have a much greater chance of sticking to your plan.
2. Prioritize Your Goals
Zero in on your most important goal at hand and start there. Many folks find that if you start with a domino goal — a goal that if achieved will allow other goals to begin to fall into place — it’s easier to focus on that area so you are not overwhelmed with too many challenges at one time.
3. Focus on Solutions rather than Problems
We usually set goals because we want to change a situation for the better. But what often happens is we focus on what we don’t want rather than considering what we want in it’s place. You may think, “How does that matter?” Well, while it’s good to analyze what’s not working in our lives, if we only look at the problem we can get trapped in the analysis and waste a lot of energy. If you are trying to run away from something with no clear direction on where you want to go, you’re more likely to become confused, overwhelmed and fall back into old habits that are known and comfortable, even if those habits work against you. Instead, set a vision to align with your goals on how to make things better rather than relying on the mentality of, “any where but here.” And in the process, be grateful for where you are at every step. This will make it easier to create positive replacement habits.
4. Set Positive Replacement Habits
I just mentioned setting and tracking positive replacement habits as a way to focus on the solutions versus the problems in your financial life. For most people, it’s usually easier to track habits that have you doing something rather than not doing something. To do this, think of what positive habits you can start to replace current habits that are not helping your situation. For example, it can be more motivating to set and achieve a daily habit of “go for a walk in the neighborhood rather than XYZ” or “exercise 60 minutes each day rather than XYZ” versus tracking “don’t eat out” or “stay out of the shopping mall.”
5. Turn to Technology to Track Your Positive Replacement Habits
Sticking to your plan is sometimes as easy as tracking and reviewing your daily efforts. Since just about everyone has a smartphone or tablet these days, there are numerous tracking applications you can use to help you track your habits. A few that you may want to check out are:
6. Get Someone Else Involved
Some of the most proven ways to support goals are social ones. Countless studies have shown that when you get an accountability partner to team up with you, both you and your partner are much more likely to achieve the intended results. At times of weakness, you and your partner can support each other. The natural competitive nature of humans is also supported when you are with someone else, spurring you both on to better performances. And when you let someone else know your specific goals, you feel much more responsible to make them realities. That said, we know money can be a hot button issue for many folks and you may not be comfortable sharing your goals. In that case, it’s still important to have an accountability partner but perhaps you would be better served in working with money coach that will keep you accountable and maintains confidentiality.
7. Reward Yourself at Small Milestones
Not long ago, the Harvard Business Review reported a scientific study that found small wins were extremely important in ongoing motivation and advancement.
“And the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.”
They showed that the human brain, when presented with a short but incremental progression of improved achievements, actually projects and plans for bigger successes and rewards along that growth rate over time. Rewarding yourself for meeting 10 daily habits in a row, then 20 and then 30 can program your mind to push you to greater and more impressive actions down the road.