Making goals easier to achieve
“If I had a penny for every time I put something off until tomorrow, and never got to it… I’d put them all in a sock and hit myself with it.”
In our digital age, it ‘s easy to create lists of things to do and remember. Virtual reminders that, for the most part, add more stress and clutter to our lives.
If you’re smiling, you’re not alone. All of us have lists filled with great intentions - and a serious challenge regarding follow-through.
Here are some great ways to create goals that are easier to achieve.
Measurability
Vaguely huge goals, such as “get out of debt” or “go on an overseas holiday”, seem specific, but they’re not measurable.
“My best advice is to write down your goals in SMART format,” says Kate Mielitz, an accredited financial counsellor.
As a reminder, the SMART acronym stands for: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic and Time-bound. In other words, you want your goals to be something that you can see progress towards and achieve in a relatively short period. This is how goals become measurable.
So – instead of saying “get out of debt”, it’s better to set a weekly goal to pay 500 Pula towards your credit cards. Setting something as specific as this helps you determine how sustainable that goal is. If you meet this each week, you might want to increase it; if you can’t meet it, you might want to reduce it, making the goal more realistic and timely.
2. Visibility
One of the issues with virtual lists is that we can’t always see them, and they’re tucked away neatly behind an app or in a folder in the cloud somewhere. Many of us are visual beings, and we like to see things.
Remember the phrase – “out of sight, out of mind” ? It’s true for our goals.
There are plenty of coaches who advocate using a vision board for our goals. This is because it makes our goals super visual and keeps us present to them throughout the week. If a vision board is too grandiose, have a pile of post-its that you can jot your goals on and stick them inside your cupboard. Then, every time you meet a goal, rip off the sticky square and toss it away in the bin.
3. Accountability
A helpful way to meet our goals is to have an accountability partner.
Financial goals are no different – having a financial planner who is in your court, knows how you make choices and what you want to achieve in life is highly beneficial to making your goals easier to achieve.
At the end of each day, remind yourself that you’re not alone and that tomorrow is a new day where you can keep working towards something new and awesome!
SCI Wealth are Botswana Licensed Investment Advisers and Certified Financial Planners. We help people in Botswana do sensible things with their money - save and invest for the future - and become financially more successful.
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