During the past few weeks and in the next weeks, months and indeed years, you hopefully will have and will continue to set new financial goals. Setting goals is one thing, but achieving them is a whole different matter. Goals are usually easy to set and difficult to achieve and require real commitment and dedication. As you continue on your journey to financial excellence, your goals might become bigger and more abstract which in turn makes it more difficult to see your daily efforts paying off.
You can make goals more tangible by not focussing on the end goal but on smaller milestones along the way, making it easier to see progress.. Then – and here is the most important part – you should celebrate your victories. Once you have got together half, a quarter or even just 10% of your $10,000 savings goal – celebrate.
I am not talking about spending lots of money on a meal out in a high-end restaurant (that might set you back 30% on your way towards your goal anyway). A celebration can be as big or as small as you want it to be: open a bottle of wine, have a picnic in the park or go for a walk along the beach. By celebrating your victories you keep yourself (and your partner or family) motivated which makes you appreciate what you have already achieved instead of focussing on what is still to be done.
Regardless how big or small your goals are, think of ways to break down financial goals as well as how to celebrate your achievements. Have a look at some of the following ideas on how to celebrate:
- Net worth: celebrate every time you increase your net worth by $5,000.
- Emergency fund: Celebrate when you get to $250, then to $500 and finally when you reach $1,000.
- 3 months living fund (step 43): Celebrate every time you save 1 month.
- Debt: celebrate for every $2,500 you pay off.
- Savings: celebrate every time you save $2,000 or your savings rate increases by 3%.
- Investing: celebrate every time your portfolio increases by $5,000.
Today’s challenge is to look at some the goals you’ve set in the past few weeks and start breaking them down into smaller goals, along with some ideas on how to celebrate each milestone. Share your ideas on Facebook or anywhere else with the #31DayChallengeToFE hashtag.
There is more on this topic in Step 93: Celebrate your Victories and Step 75: Budget and Spend on You.
100 Steps Mission 