Your personal finance

When wives put New Year resolutions on dashboards!

The other Friday last year, a friend gave me a lift. A picture on his car’s dashboard caught my attention. He had a picture of a beautiful house plan. Last time there was a picture of his wife. I just thought to myself “anzangawa ukwati wawo siukuyenda, zikukhala ngati zasokonekera” (my friend must be having issues with his wife, otherwise why replace her photo with a house plan).

Apparently, I later learned that he and the wife had resolved to build a house and the wife replaced her picture with the miniature house plan so it served as a reminder every time the husband went out for a cold one. As I write, they now have the house towering in one of the Capital City’s suburbs.

Meeting this friend last week reminded me on the need to talk about setting of realistic personal finance resolutions as we move into 2014.

Research has it that almost 80% of resolutions fail as early as mid January, and the percentage of failed/abandoned resolutions reaches 95% at around April. Why? Many things come into play: commitment, stress, fear of a change, the goals set are simply not realistic, and sometimes people do not feel as equally motivated/energetic throughout the year as they may feel in the very beginning.

We will look into some tips on how to make realistic and achievable New Year’s resolutions:

First, think well before hand. Set your mind and firmly believe that you will achieve your resolution. Encourage others to visualise your success and surround yourself with people who will encourage you during the process. Setting a New Year’s resolution is a process of planning and setting goals that you really want to achieve.

Find something that will improve/change your life, business, career, or financial well-being. Understand that there is a difference between your wishes and what you want and need. For example, if your office is away from your home, you need to drive to your office. You may wish to have an expensive BMW to drive there, but that isn’t your need. You need to have a car (any car that you can afford) so that you can drive to work, and, as such, your resolution should be about how to buy a new car that you can realistically afford.

Plan your goals and write them down. This will keep you on track during the process and won’t let you lose sight of your goals and plans. Use any format you want to write down your plan. You can use a computer or simply write it down on a paper. Write out every step and detail about your goals and the way you want to achieve them. You may want to use different sheets of paper for each goal to be more organised and neat.

Secondly, like my Free-Lander friend, remind yourself of your resolution constantly. Write down your resolution and stick it to your monitor, car dashboard, on the front door of your fridge or any other place that you will notice it often, this way you will always be reminded of your resolution and slowly it will get into your sub-conscious mind. Then, all of a sudden, everything will start working in your favour to help you achieve your resolution.

Third, set standard SMART goals. The goals you set should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound – your goals should have a time frame. You should specify the time you will need to achieve it. Be careful to set a realistic time frame. If your time frame is too short for the goal to be achieved it, you may be disappointed and this could prevent you from achieving it; while on the other hand, if you take too long to achieve a goal, you will soon get exhausted and more likely quit.

Fourth, set alternative resolutions as well. Be flexible in your plans and set alternative goals and methods to achieve your desired results, should you need to change your goals and plans. Always have a Plan B so that when Plan A isn’t achievable you will have the option to work on plan B.

Fifth, reward yourself when you’re successful. Be it a Saturday night party, a long drive with your loved one or a dinner in your favourite restaurant; always reward yourself on your small achievements that bring you closer and closer to your resolution. Don’t get too stressed during the process. Instead, try to convert each step in achieving your resolution into a fun activity.

Lastly, leave procrastination behind. As Nike says, “Just Do It”. This small phrase has a whole lot of philosophy in it. People fail in their goals because they are always procrastinating. They are always in a mind state of “I will do it”, but rarely do. Don’t be in such a position and just act on your plans, start now and never wait for the next day, hour or even minute. Just do it.

Have a blessed 2014!

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