Setting goals is essential for a genuinely success-oriented person. However, you can't keep doing the same thing expecting different results.
It's not enough to set goals; you must have the discipline and system to execute them.
You’re disciplined and skilled in setting goals does not automatically make you a goal-getter. Goals are not fixed only on paper; another phase is goal execution. While you may be good at setting goals, you must develop the same to execute them.
Your lack of discipline in goal execution may be a few factors.
Here are some factors that may be affecting the execution of your financial goals.
Factors That Might Be Affecting Your Financial Goal
Different and various factors could be responsible for your lack of goal execution. These factors may be internal, which includes your fears, doubt, and lack of discipline or may be external.
Spending Triggers
Spending triggers, also referred to as emotional expenditures, are the act of spending based on impulse or emotions.
You keep buying what you don't need based on an obsession with the product or the product's pull on you.
You’d have to learn to control your spending triggers to be on track with your financial goals.
No Budget
A costly mistake you’d make this year is if you still don't have a budget that tracks how much comes in and goes out.
People may say, “I don't know where my money goes.” You can't know because you don't have a structure that tracks your spending.
A budget helps you to prioritize your spending; that is, you’d have covered your necessities on a scale of preference before you can attempt to accumulate expenses on frivolities.
Your spendings are in check.
People don't want to create a budget for this reason; they do not want to be in check or under any form of accountability. They don't want to take responsibility for their spending.
Discipline gets you what you want and makes you become what you want.
Savings
Saving money can be for multiple reasons, e.g., your daughter’s wedding, purchase of a car etc.
Savings is keeping part of what you have for the future. The first cure for a lean purse is to start saving money. The man in the story, The Richest Man In Babylon, by George Clason, saved ten percent of his income and slowly increased his savings over time.
If you don't see any reason to save, two things should inspire you to begin to save today. Having an emergency fund and education fund.
The emergency fund covers your expenses for 3-6 months. It's something you can rely upon in case of emergency. Emergencies are inevitable, they emerge from nowhere, but you don't want to be caught unaware. We must always be prepared for the inevitable.
An educational fund is an amount of money you set aside to educate yourself, which include buying books, courses, college fee etc.
Learning is a lifelong process and improves your chances of making more money because knowledge is real money.
Going for a better-paying Job
This year, improve your value by going for that better-paying job or starting that business you’ve always had in mind.
You can't keep allowing your low-paying job to keep limiting you from enjoying the lifestyle you’ve always dreamt of, primarily when you know you’ve worked so hard for yourself.
Take the bold step!
Have a passive income
A passive income is an income you earn without much effort.
Having a passive income expands your financial capacity with minimal effort. There are many ways you can earn from passive income today.
You can invest in stock. Write and sell a book or digital products. Convert your items into an asset that’ll bring you money in the long run.
How You Should Set Your Financial Goals
Goals may be short-term and long-term. You need to prioritize these two but keep in mind that your financial goals should not be set too low and should be SMART, that is, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Based.
Your short-term goals for the year could be set monthly or weekly. But one long-term goal you should have for the year is becoming a millionaire or billionaire.
The aim of setting this goal is not the money but what it will make of you to achieve it.
Setting these goals will make you a better person when you achieve them or when you are in the process of achieving them.
Bottom Line
A famous quote, “An idea without action is stillborn,” when you’re setting that financial goal ensures that you have the discipline to execute them.
Don't just set goals, set systems that’ll help you achieve them.
The difference between this year, your previous years, and your next is your ability to execute those goals you’ve written down.
