In hard times, it’s difficult to plan anything. It seems that all actions are meaningless, and the economic situation is too unpredictable. But that’s no reason to give up on your goals altogether: difficulties will come to an end someday, and we’ll go back to routine. So let’s find out how to set financial goals.
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Fear of Failure
Planning is scary because in a year you will have to report to yourself and figure out why something did not work out. This is unpleasant, and it begins to seem that it’s easier not to plan anything at all. But fear can be kept under control.
What to Do
Scientists have found that discussing negative emotions helps to conquer fear. To begin with, you should allow yourself to be afraid, and then talk about the fear as emotionally as possible: to a friend, a psychologist or yourself. After that, you need to take another hard look at your goal and make sure that it can be achieved without much loss of comfort.
It’s necessary to set goals so that they do not drive you into a constant pursuit. For example, this happens when a person decides to accumulate a financial cushion and initially sets himself conditions that dont allow a normal life. He starts forbidding buying his favorite food, betting via 22Bet, and going out with friends. Then that cushion becomes not a competent goal, but a hard labor. That’s why it will be scary to reach it.
Accumulation is like strengthening your muscles. Before working out, you also get scared that it won’t work out, but the important thing is to start. When you exercise regularly, the body gets stronger and the fear goes away. You begin to understand that everything works: the amount on the account becomes greater.
The Effect of Someone Else’s Success
If you scroll through the social media feeds, it begins to seem that all the acquaintances fly on vacation every month, newcomers to the profession launch successful authoring courses, and mothers on maternity leave earn millions. When we compare ourselves to more successful people, we devalue our accomplishments. This becomes another barrier to goal setting. And there are two extremes: give up goal setting or set exorbitant goals like your Instagram friends.
What to Do
So that someone else’s success doesn’t interfere with achieving your own, try to understand your motivation. Decide why you are achieving that goal. Accept that everyone has different circumstances, milestones, and opportunities. If your favorite blogger already drives a Cadillac, it doesn’t mean that you should give up the idea of buying yourself an easier car. So comparing yourself to others when it comes to achieving your financial goals is counterproductive.
Loss of Comfort
Setting goals is uncomfortable, because you have to give up a lot to achieve them. Not buying a new iPhone, not getting take-out coffee every morning. It’s scary and makes you give up a lot of goals.
What to Do
The way out is not to set exorbitant and unrealizable goals, which will lead to a complete loss of comfort.
Sometimes we set a goal, but we don’t think about the impact of that goal on our daily lives. We need to rest, travel, give gifts to family and ourselves, get an education, go to some events to be inspired. It’s important to realize at the shore that the process of reaching a goal is not a reason to give up on your life. It is life itself.
You shouldn’t be afraid to set a goal just because you’re afraid to give up the life you’re used to. You can always change the goal along the way if it starts to destroy you from within. Reconsider benchmarks, if before each purchase there is an internal tender: “Do I need it? Do I want it? Can I afford it? Is it worth it?”
The Desire to Get Everything at Once
If there are too many goals, they begin to conflict with each other for limited resources and collapse the person. As a result, all of the goals remain empty wishes and do not grow into the status of conscious and ready to be achieved.
What to Do
Set a single goal, and leave the rest in the status of dreams. They even become stronger from this, and will gain a clearer framework. Besides, the successful experience of achieving the first goal will help you formulate the second one correctly. An exception is if one of the goals is long-term or not important.
It’s wrong to achieve several goals in parallel. It’s acceptable only if some of the goals are of low priority. In this case, you may prioritize the goals according to the date of achievement: for example, you will need money for your children’s education only in 10 years, but you will need a car in 2 years.
