Saving money, sorting out your finances, losing weight, getting fit, walking in high heels. These are just a few things that many people seem to believe they’ll never be able to do.
The end goal seems so unachievable and the day-to-day obstacles so high it’s easier to do nothing at all. The problem is that by doing nothing at all, it usually means you’re compounding the issue. So debt looms larger, your savings goals seem further away, your waistline continues to expand each year and you’re still walking around in flats.
There is enormous power in small changes, made often.
So what can you do about it? I believe the answer in defeating this type of mindset lies in acknowledging the end goal but then choosing to concentrate instead on the everyday. It’s about focusing on the little changes you can make today.
That’s because there is enormous power in small changes, made often.
How does it work? Well let’s start with the example of your waistline. Let’s say you want to lose 25 kilos but you don’t even know where to begin and the whole idea of where to start makes you want to reach for another bag of chips. Instead of worrying about the 25 kilos, what if you concentrated instead on what you can do this week and today. So instead of stressing about 25 kilos, your focus the first week is 500 grams and swapping chocolate for a piece of fruit. The second week might again be 500 grams and adding walking for half an hour three times a week. And you build from there. In the end it breaks down to a whole stack of small changes that together combine to achieve an amazing result. So your focus moves to the small changes that you are able to manage rather than the looming issue that you don’t feel you can control.
It’s about the power of small changes made often. The same process applies to your finances. Your goal for example may be to pay off your credit card debts or to buy a house but the size of the debt or the deposit seems insurmountable and you simply don’t know where to start. So instead of becoming depressed and doing nothing, try working out one thing you can do about it this week. Maybe it’s taking your lunch to work every day this week, which means you will save $50. Now $50 might seem like a drop in the ocean but over a year it’s $2600. Not a bad start. It might take you a couple of weeks to get used to making your lunches but once you do it’s not time to rest on your laurels.
Instead, look at the next small change you can make. Maybe it’s cycling to work instead of driving twice a week or becoming more organised with your meals so you can plan your shopping budget and have less wastage so your food bill is reduced. This might take another month to work out and adopt and these changes might save you another $50 a week. Now you’ve found more than $5000 a year just from three small changes. And you build from there, simply by focusing on one small change at a time.
So many things in life are simply a mindset. If you’re convinced you can’t master your finances or achieve your goals guess what? You’ll probably be right.
It won’t help you get out of debt, buy your first house or plan for retirement will it?
I didn’t jump from flats to a six inch stiletto in a day and weight loss isn’t an overnight wonder. It’s something you build on every day.
The same goes for your finances. If you are like the many people in life who believe they’re terrible with money so they simple don’t bother trying, decide today to do something different. What small changes are you going to make this week to achieve your financial goals?
Source- www.smh.com.au
By Melissa Brown, published may 27, 2013 – 5:40pm.
