For some, the only financial goal within reach is getting the next paycheck to pay the bills. Does financial freedom seem like an unreachable goal?
Even if your current situation seems ominous, there are things you can do to achieve financial success. Possibilities for improving your financial condition are all around you.
When you want to move your financial life forward, the first step is deciding on a worthwhile goal. What do you want to see happen? When? As soon as you’ve made that decision, you can start marching toward your success in a step-by-step fashion. A worthwhile goal ensures you know where you’re going before you set out on your journey.
Long-Term and Short-Term: What makes a financial goal important?
You might have a short-term goal to pay off a credit card and a long-term goal to pay off a school loan. Those are both attainable, but one will obviously take longer than the other. Makes sense, right?
Well, that’s why it’s so important to set a realistic timeframe for your goals! Stay encouraged by tracking your progress along your planned timeline. When you see a goal getting closer to achievement, you’ll become more excited and motivated to keep moving forward.
How a financial goal can be both short- and long-term
If you only set long-term goals, the payoff is too far away to provide any real motivation. These goals take a long time to achieve and the lack of immediate progress may make you want to quit without shorter-term goals to look forward to.
The idea is to set long-term goals and couple them with short-term goals that excite you. Or, break your long-term objectives into short-term milestones that provide encouraging feedback on your progress. That way, you remain interested in pursuing your financial success.
You Can Get to Your Goals From Here!
Too many people get discouraged and stop working towards their goals, especially financial goals. Don’t let this happen to you! Avoid allowing yourself to end up financially stuck and struggling because you let setbacks derail your train to financial success and prosperity.
Instead of giving up on your financial goal and stopping yourself from living the good life you deserve, use these strategies to move forward:
- Procure your rewards along the way. Set a realistic financial goal and reward yourself when you reach it. Split your bigger goals into smaller pieces and celebrate when you accomplish one small step.
- Have flexibility. Be willing to alter your completion dates if you find that you’re struggling to succeed. If you experience some sort of obstacle, learn from it, play around with your goal’s end date, and keep moving forward. Embrace changes and adapt as well as you can.
- Keep yourself focused. Stay zeroed in on what actually matters to you and try not to go off on tangents. Always remember why your success is important, especially when the going gets rough.
- Make the work toward your goal an enjoyable experience. Moving forward doesn’t have to be all boring work. If you include goals that are for things you genuinely enjoy, it can help keep you motivated to continue.
- You can make your hobby into a side-gig to earn a little extra dough.
- Figure out how to can make dull tasks more fun…listen to an audiobook or your favorite playlist.
- Include a friend.
- Challenge yourself and make it a game you want to win.
- Keep your mindset focused, yet playful…success is likely to follow.
What is your financial goal?
Your aspirations are what your happiness craves. Everyone deserves rich experiences in life. Meaningful relationships and inner peace are free for the taking. Having a positive mindset and the will to be successful, you can achieve all of this. Being financially independent when you finally reach your goal will feel like a dream…and this dream life you are longing for is wholly within your reach.
Take the time to really map out your financial goal and set milestones with actual completion dates. When you do reach your smaller, individual goals you are already setting yourself apart from all of the people who dream big, but stay on the back burner of life…and, ultimately, happiness!
So, brainstorm some short- and long-term financial goals that seem most important to you. Pick the most ones that will make you less stressed about life (financially) in the future, draw out a plan and move toward the first steps toward your financial success today.
