Many of would like to improve our financial situation but we fid it hard to stay motivated to do so. It might be that we want to save money, pay off our loans or things like this but we just find that we keep spending too much or not earning enough because we find it hard to actually motivate ourselves to do it. There are things that you can do which might help though and it is worth investigating these so that you can decide whether you think that they will help you.
Write down some goals
It is a good idea to start by establishing why you have decided that you want to improve your finances. It could be because you want something very specific – such as a particular item that you want to buy, that you want to increase your savings, pay off a loan or something like that. It is a good idea to make a note of this goal. This has several purposes. It makes it more definite because it is written down, it means that you cannot forget it and it helps it to stick in your mind as something important. You might also like to be specific with it, such as setting a date as to when you want to achieve it by or an amount of money such as how much you want to save. This will help you to focus. Also put on it the reason why you are doing it if you think that it is necessary. Perhaps the reason you want to save a certain sum of money or how it will benefit you to pay off your loan etc.
Stick them in a prominent place
You now need to make sure that you stick your goal in a prominent place so that you see it a lot. Perhaps on the bathroom mirror, so that you see it in the morning and it will help you to start the day with the right attitude. It can help to remind you, not only what you are aiming for but also help you to remember why you are trying to achieve this and it will help you to stay motivated.
Do financial planning
It might be necessary to do some planning so that you can achieve this goal. Some people believe that you just need to set a goal and this will be enough for you to be able to achieve it. They feel that the focus on the goal is enough for your subconscious to work on a solution and for you to achieve it without changing your behaviour in a conscious way. However, there are other people that feel that you need to make plans so that you can work methodically to achieve what you want. It is up to you to you to think about which approach you think will work for you. It may depend on what you have read about goal setting and what evidence you have found for the two methods. It might be more to do with your personality and what you know is more likely to work for you.
If you feel that you need to plan then it can be a good idea to split the goal into smaller parts which look easier to achieve. Perhaps reward yourself as you go through each stage to help you to reach it quickly and feel like it is more worthwhile. The sense of achievement of doing it may be enough of course, but you may like to have some other reward as well. It will depend on how you like to reward yourself.
