In our last blog, we spoke about setting financial goals and the planning that goes into achieving them. To further help you with your 2020 goals, we thought it would be best to give some advice on how to stick to them.
So, let’s assume you set your goals, and planned accordingly. Perhaps you set up new bank accounts and changed the provider of your electricity account.
Hopefully you spoke to us about your current debt as well (home Loan, credit cards etc), and we have got the ball rolling in getting you a better deal.
All is going well.
Then, as life does… something gets in the way of your goals. I could’ve been car failure, your fridge, your pet… items that you can’t really prepare for. It appears your well laid plans have gone up in smoke.
But don’t despair… this happens all the time. The best laid plans sometimes go awry.
The most important part of this process is to not stress out, make sure you don’t lose your momentum!
Momentum… ”the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity”
Or in this example the continuing speed in the direction in which your goals are travelling.
A lot of the time when a speed hump is hit, people will stop sticking to their plans and go into “survival” mode. That is, they limit their thoughts and actions to just getting by day to day. This generally ends up in momentum swinging the wrong way.
This not only applies to the financial side of life but other goals such as weight loss/fitness, travel plans, work goals and more.
Simply put, sticking to your goals is difficult because life will always throw up challenges. To help you out, here are a couple of things to get you back on track:
1. Stuff will always happen – Accept it
Life will generally find a way to get in between you and what you are aiming for. As the saying goes – “If it was easy everyone would do it”.
We need to accept that we will always have challenges and that our job is to overcome them.
So, accept that a small challenge has got in our way, that its part of the plan and move forward as quickly as possible.
2. Get back on track as fast as possible. Even if it’s just a little bit
So we’ve accepted that at times, stuff will happen and we will be caught short.
The next step is to get back on track as soon as possible, even if it’s only a little. A good example is when you miss a gym session, or eat badly for a day. There is no need to punish yourself, or throw all your previous hard work out the window. Rather, get back on the bike asap and keep the momentum moving your way.
It’s easy for momentum to swing the other way if you let it. It is critical to move forward.
So next time something happens in a financial sense, get back on track by saving something small or getting rid of a small debt. Sacrifice a night out or take your lunch to work etc. Even $5 or $10 will be enough to stop the wrong type of momentum.
3. Take advantage of the good times to cover for the bad
When you get back on your feet, and your plans are back on track, take advantage of the situation and re-calibrate your plan of action. You may have to set your goal back a little or adjust other items more to make the goal on time. Never give in though.
With this in mind don’t forget to plan for future hiccups such as ensuring your insurances are adequate, (car, life, income etc), and that you ALWAYS have a monthly surplus that is put to good use (Such as an off-set account).
And most importantly, keep a positive attitude as it is the most important aspect of achieving anything worthwhile.
