It has been a little quiet on my end for the past couple of weeks. I’ve been d dealing with the aftermath of attending two basically back to back conferences in different states, an uptick in client work, and the usual malaise that happens to me at this time of year. But I haven’t been achieving my finance related goals. Are you dealing with a similar problem?
You’re Not Achieving Your Goals Too?
There has to be something that we can do about this and it’s starting to stress me out! I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve the goals that I set for myself. I’ve done the following in the past year:
- Reconnect with friends and family-Done
- Quit job-Done
- Build up business-work in progress
- Lose weight-work in progress
What I’ve discovered is that each goal that have is wrapped in a dream and that is where the confusion and anxiety starts. There are so many pieces to a life and so many pieces to focus on when manifesting a dream that it’s very easy to get overwhelmed, frustrated, and stuck in a cycle of analysis paralysis. That’s kind of where I’ve been mentally for the past month or so, stuck in a constant state of thinking and rethinking my goals and my process.
I Needed Some Clarity!
And maybe you do too? The question I had to ask myself was how to cut through my analysis paralysis and figure out what my top priorities are going into 2016. I began writing down and looking at my list of actions and goals that I’m currently working on or in the process of working on right now.
The list, as you wonderful people know, is long.
- Date and meet the one
- Lose Weight
- Pay off debt
- Continue growing my business
- Study Spanish
- Continue connecting with friends and family
- Travel
- Help people out
My list is long and each line item has different components to it so I had to take some time to figure out where I really needed to focus my energy.
The Simple Hack That Gave Me Goal Clarity
My hack was inspired by a conversation that I had with a really well-known blogger in the personal finance blogosphere. He talked about how he works towards goals that are important to him and I took mental notes. So, I decided to revisit my long list of goals/concerns and decided to write down everything that I was trying to do. I then created a code for each line item-here’s the code:
- W-Weight/Health
- P-People
- M-Money
- Misc-Miscellaneous
And then I went through each line item and discovered that there was a clear area where I needed to focus. By the way, my list had about 15 line items. What did I reveal to myself and why was it a surprise? My main concern was:
Money
I had several line items that were variations of issues related to money.
- Debt
- Savings
- Grow Business
There were sub-categories within those line items but basically, the sub-categories were things that were connected to money in some sort of way. I am clearly feeling very comfortable and secure in other areas of my life that I was struggling with before I quit my job. Now my life is balanced and healthy enough were I can give my debt freedom journey the laser-eyed focus it needs. I’m still single (LOL) and I feel like this is the moment where I need to buckle down and focus on getting some substantial headway towards debt freedom during the winter months. I will not be traveling between December-May (unless someone pays me to travel for work). This is the perfect opportunity to build up momentum and take care of my top three concerns:
- Debt
- Savings
- Health
Using my simple hack helped me figure out exactly where my focus should be. Now, I am focused on any goals or actions that will make me money. That simple. You may need a similar hack that will help you gain some clarity on what is the goal that you need to focus on most.
You’re probably thinking “Michelle-you write about personal finance and lifestyle issues. How did you get distracted from taking care of this goal?” Well, I decided to work on other issues affecting my life that were integral to my living a healthy life both physically and mentally. I am 100% sure that if I didn’t focus on getting out of my old job I would be dealing with some heavy mental health issues right now. I was not doing well by the time I left my job and I did what was right for me at the time.
Now, I am feeling mentally and physically healthy. I have the energy to focus on and execute a debt repayment plane and it’s super helpful that I don’t feel overwhelmed or distracted by other issues in my life.
Adulting=Distractions
I realized that my struggles were probably similar to other people’s struggles. It’s so easy to get bogged down by all of the issues we have to tell with as adults (aka-adulting) and maybe this is why people find it difficult to focus on debt repayment. There are so many freaking distractions or issues to deal with and it takes time and energy to deal with issue.
I can’t even imagine how I would manage dealing with these issues and goals if I had a spouse and kids. I have a ton of respect for my friends who are able to manage their family and self-transformation at the same time.
It will be interesting to see if I’m able to focus on debt repayment and savings for the next 6 months and make some headway on my finance related goals. I will be honest and say that I’m a bit embarrassed and frustrated with myself about how long this process has taken me. I will have to process that frustration and channel it into substantive action. We’ll see how it goes.
Are You Having Some Problems With
Achieving Some of Your Goals?
Latest posts by Michelle (see all)
- How Work Policies Against Black Women Birthed a Love of the Soft Life - 20 March, 2024
- How Taylor Swift’s IP Victory Could Change the Business of Music - 28 February, 2024
- Why Don’t More Personal Finance Content Creators Talk About Policy - 16 January, 2024
You’re not alone my dear. I have so many goals but I have one big obstacle in the way: money, or lack thereof. I want to do this…oh wait, that requires money, and that, oh that requires money too. In the meantime I’m trying to be ultra frugal and get back on a good financial road but there just seem to be competing goals. They are roadblocks for sure, but all is not lost…it’s just trying to find a way around those roadblocks. But I gotta say, they are some giant roadblocks. I’m being vague I know and this probably requires a Skype chat. 🙂 lol! You up for it?
So many goals, so little money LOL! Am totally in for for a SKYPE chat.
Usually when I have trouble with a goal it’s because it’s not something I truly want to achieve. It’s usually something I think should be on my list even if it’s not something I’m passionate about.
I 100% agree and I feel like I had other goals that were more of a priority than debt repayment. At this point though-this is my number on priority and I’m feeling pretty passionate about because I’m done with debt. But-there was a lack of passion for that goal as I managed other parts of my life. Those are going great so now it’s game on.
I wouldn’t say that I’m having a problem reaching some of my goals per se, I’d say that a few are taking me a little longer than expected. Part of it is because I’ve been out of town and the other part is that I’ve had a couple eBay duds. I know I will finish the year off strong though.
I think Cat’s comment touched on some of what was going on with me-I had other priorities that I was passionate about. I would agree that these goals take their own time and then one day you get crazy momentum towards the end. Life seems to work that way.
I have imprtant financial goals and also personals to achieve, sometimes seems that everyone can achieve their goals while me not, or maybe I achieved one I planned some time later, goals needs time and remember There is a time for everything!!! I’m sure you’ll achieve all your goals!!!
Giulia! I was talking about this with a friend of mine and the truth is, that everyone has their own path. We will take the time that we need to achieve our goals. I have been working on all of my goals but other issues were of greater importance to me like balancing out my life. Now that I feel good about my quality of life I’m better able to tackle the finances which is a multi-layered, emotional, and tricky process. Good luck on your money related goals too.
What is a ‘hack’?
In the context of this post-a simple trick or short-cut used to get to my desired result. Desired result-clarity on what was my number one goal.