A New Year Resolution I Can Stick With
“It’s a New Year, time for a New Me”
This is a quote I have heard often from people, sometimes in a joking manner others in a far more serious tone. While I love the idea of using the turning of the calendar as a catalyst for making life changes, I think we all know there is a real struggle in sticking with a New Year’s Resolution. In a 2024 survey, only 13% of participants admitted to keeping their resolutions past the first month. So what contributes to this? There are some common reasons across studies that stand out.
Unrealistic Goals
Unmonitored Progress
I forgot about the Goal
Unrealistic Goals
Unrealistic Goals are a real problem when dealing with our money. Often we forget that the situation we find ourselves in usually comes about from a pattern of actions over time. Many people do not end up in debt from a singular incident, but rather from extended periods of small, incremental debt piling up. Realizing that how we got into debt is the same way we climb out of debt sets us on a path of realistic accomplishment. Making new choices one week at a time. You don’t get out of debt in a month. It takes a consistent approach over time to change habits and build yourself back up. Unless there is a lottery winning in your future, building wealth and financial security has to take time. This requires setting a realistic goal focusing on the process. Eliminating your credit card debt is an amazing goal, but the way you get to it has to be realistic.
But if you don’t monitor your progress, how do you know if you’re being successful?
This is where I believe a lot of people fall short of their goals. The goal may be right for you and maybe realistic and attainable. But if you are not tracking your progress, how do you know you are moving in the right direction? Monitoring your progress is how you hold yourself accountable to your goals. If this matters, we cannot be afraid to hold ourselves accountable. So many people have expressed to me they are tired of feeling the financial stress they do in their lives. But like any area in our life where we feel that improvements need to be made, it still requires us to take the steps (setting a goal), and then to walk that path (monitor progress) to get the changes we want to see.
Remembering the Goal
Trying to remember your goals almost sounds like it should be second nature, but in our lives how easy is it to forget something? The less direct that goal is to us on a day-by-day basis, the easier it is to let it slip away. This ties back to accountability. Why do people hire fitness trainers? Why do people diet together? These are steps we take to help us remember the goal and to be held accountable by someone else.
This is what we want to do with you. Our business exists to walk alongside our clients to help them reach their financial goals. To be the reminder in your ear, the accountability when you need it, and the encourager when it gets difficult.
Reaching your goals needs to be difficult because it should require you to change for the better.
“So what do I do first?”
A quick and easy step you could look into for the upcoming New Year is to take something off your plate. Set up your banking account to automatically place an amount of your paycheck into a high-interest savings account so that money is set aside the next time a big expense arises. We suggest having a starting goal of $1,000 and then looking to grow that to one month’s worth of expenses. By having this done automatically, it is something you don’t have to remember actively to take care of.
Next? Reach out to us here at Precision Coaching and let’s see if we can help you with your goals in the New Year!
