When it comes to financial resolutions and planning, we often find ourselves biting off more than we can chew. It may be worth dialing back on the self-induced pressure of achieving BIG goals, and instead going for a few small wins.
Unless you’re an experienced goal-setter and achiever, you probably find yourself trying to achieve something too big too fast and wind up giving up too soon in the process. Missing your goal can lead to frustration and affect your morale, making it even less likely you’ll try again in the future.
Sometimes, it’s worth it to take a step back and give yourself a break. We can put ourselves under so much pressure to get it right the first time that we start to doubt our abilities once we see we’ve already given up, and we only just crossed the starting line.
There are effective ways to achieve the success you want. The most effective one is to try setting yourself up for the small wins before trying to tackle the large stuff.
Small wins are goals you can easily visualize yourself accomplishing, are relatively simple in their design, and don’t take too many steps to complete. They are also great motivators to amp you up about pursuing larger, more challenging goals.
With small wins, every time you achieve one, you feel accomplished, and your self-confidence will grow.
Goals cover many areas of our lives, and finance usually always finds itself in that mix.
If you’re ready, we’re giving you 4 financial wins you can try out and achieve.
- Reduce one monthly expense.
Start with only one. We all have areas where we can probably find a few things to cut back on.
Instead of trying to juggle a bunch at a time, just pick one and do that. Maybe you’re paying for a membership you don’t use anymore, or you have been splurging on too many things every month. Look at those monthly expenses and pick one you can let go of.
The savings don’t have to be huge right away, but at least you’re minimizing that leaky faucet from dribbling away dollars here and there. You might even find subscriptions that you didn’t even know you were paying for because you signed up too long ago to remember! If that’s the case, cancel those too. Why pay for something you’re not using?
- Set yourself up with a credit score, report, and check it!
If you’re not already checking your credit score or report, get on it!
There are many avenues available to us these days to keep an eye on our score and reports. You can check out companies like Experian, Credit Karma or if you’re a Triangle member, our Better Checking account with ID Protect gives you access to view your credit score and report plus it provides you identity theft protection, too!
The first step to keeping your finances under control and your identity protected is being aware of what’s going on with your credit. How can you stay aware of issues concerning your credit if you’re never checking it?
Regularly check your score and report so you can be aware of all changes that may be legitimate or fraudulent.
- Track Your Net Worth.
This one is very easy to start off with.
You will never know how much progress you’ve made if you don’t know where you’re starting from.
Calculating your net worth gives you a starting line so you know how much you have for assets vs. Debts.
Some people might be scared to check this because they are afraid of what they might see.
No one wants to see a negative net worth, but you need to know what’s wrong if you want to fix it!
Tracking your net worth is a solid way to keep a clear picture of where you are and where you want to go. If you need some help calculating it, check out our Calculating Your Net Worth Money Tip Tuesday which will walk you through the process of how you can get started!
- Plan a spending freeze or other type of short-term financial challenge.
If you’re one to test your determination and diligence, this is perfect to get you warmed up for attempting those long-term goals.
Success is often determined by how persistent and focused you can remain on one task.
Instead of trying to tackle a year-long challenge, try setting yourself up for a shorter one like a month-long one or even a week. Pick one challenge such as “no extra spending for 30 days”, or “no credit card use for 2 weeks”.
Maybe you wanted to try to save more. Check out our blog with 5 savings challenges you can start today!
Picking short-term goals gets you focused on the small wins, you’ll feel great when you’ve accomplished them, and it’s perfect practice in discipline and planning for when it comes down to setting larger goals.
Small wins are crucial to becoming successful in almost every area of our lives. They build confidence and encourage discipline and planning. They help us gain excitement and are great motivators to keep plugging along toward our pursuits.
If you’re tired of trying and failing at your financial attempts year after year, try starting with these instead. You owe it to yourself to set your best foot forward and make confident moves toward goal setting and achieving.
