Have you ever set a New Year’s Resolution only to stop working towards that goal a few weeks into January? It’s a running cliche that people set resolutions to join a gym and then after January never return. Well, the same thing happens with peoples’ financial plans. Whether it be to increase their income, plan their investments, or keep a budget. At first, people set a plan and go at it, however after a few short months the vast majority of people go back to their original behaviors. Change takes practice, and perseverance. You will only succeed in finding financial success over the long term if you can live proper financial principles over the long run. Persistence and Financial Success are intertwined.
Side Hustle Persistence
In the last decade, the barrier to starting a side hustle has decreased significantly. You can drive for Uber, rent your house on Airbnb, do technical writing on a freelance site, or even start a blog in a matter of days. However, as any user of these tools can attest, the preference of your customers is to use established sources. People tend to favor the Airbnb locations that have past reviews. In fact general recommendations are to rent from those with prior good reviews.
Blogs, meanwhile, tend to take months to build their audience, even if you wrote the best content in the world like this blog 😉 Without keeping at it for months, or even years, you will likely not see a return on your investment in audience or money. In the world of freelance writers, those with prior experience command higher pay rates. For uber, there are bonuses for doing so many trips. In every case if you want to see real returns you have to keep at it.
Financial Investment Plan Persistence
The same can be said for a financial investment plan. If you set your investment strategy and hold to it over the long run, studies have shown you will do better then those who adapt their plans to the news or worse to their fears. By setting your asset allocation, your exist strategy, and your goals and sticking to them over the long haul you avoid underperforming their market due to your own actions.
Savings and Budgeting
Budgeting also usually fails as an individual initially cuts the flab but it slowly inflates it’s way back in. You set your savings plans to stop wasting your money on coffee, cable, cigarettes or any of the other things people blow large amount of money on over time. However, after the initial cut back occurs you regress back into the same habits.
Goals, Milestones, and Plans
I’ve spoken about these before but ultimately I’ve found the best way to succeed is to set both long term goals and short term milestones. That way you regularly get that positive feeling of accomplishment while continuing to have something to work towards. If you need something extra you can even celebrate those milestones in some minor way. Just be sure the celebration is not something that will sabotage your progress. Pick a reward in an unrelated area, like baking yourself a special dessert if you achieve a financial milestone. Remember planning how you get there is the only way you will make it to that goal. Measuring your progress towards that goal is the only way you will know when you arrive. If it’s not measured, it probably did not happen. It certainly won’t afford you the positive feeling you need to keep yourself motivated.
Persistence and Financial Success
Ultimately, the only way you will ensure you stay on the road to financial independence is to use these tools and others to say persistent in your pursuit of financial success. I’ve listed a few methods for self motivation here but you may have others. Regardless there is no short cut or trick that will get you there overnight. Even the earliest early retirees still work for at least a decade. The ones that do retire early still have a tight spending plan that they usually need to maintain in perpetuity. Lucky for them, and pretty much all of us on the planet, if we do execute things with persistence most things will eventually come. You’ll make mistakes and adjust, but if you keep at it you will eventually find the right mix for you, resulting in your success.
How do you ensure persistence towards your goals?
Thanks for this encouraging post FTF. When I first started my blog, I was really motivated and was quite driven to post great contents, but I was struggling to grow my traffic. You are definitely right that people like to visit sites that are more established. I just have to have some patience and build my reputation a bit longer.
One day at a time. Increases in traffic seem to come in spirts.
Persistence really pays off, especially when it comes to financial goals. I think a lot of people who struggle with money issues tend to have low will power, i.e. they might do well one month and then start having moments of weakness and start spending beyond their means and go back and forth until their debt ultimately gets out of control.
It really is difficult to make a permanent change in your lifestyle. It’s so easy to let it creep back in slowly by slackening up a little bit at a time.
I definitely think that’s why the debt snowball method is preferred over the debt avalanche. I think most people like seeing those quick wins to help motivate them.
BTW…I feel like a lot of bloggers say it’s so easy to set up a blog. What I didn’t know was how hard it is to generate revenue or establish readers. Way harder and way more time than I could have ever imagined!!!
You’re right, that is why the personal in personal finance is so important. Psychology is ultimately more important then return.
Yes, definitely don’t watch or read the news for investing tips ;). When it comes to investing and growing wealth, using a tool like Personal Capital helps to keep me motivated to reach my goals. Using it to set incremental goals as you discuss, and tracking my progress towards them really helps me stay persistent.
You’re absolutely right about setting both short term and long term goals. At the end of the day though perseverance and discipline are the only way to get lasting results. I agree with all the comments on how hard blogging is, I guess patience is key, much like growing a decent financial nest egg.
Intrinsic motivation helps a lot with the blog. Without a desire to participate in the community and a real enjoyment of talking about the subject a blogger is doomed to failure. It’s too much work for too little return otherwise.
Nice topic on which discussion is going on. Obstinacy is totally depends on the human mind. But if it moves slowly and silently with planning, one can get success to achieve anything.
Since there are a lot of comments about blogging, I’ll pitch in and give in my thoughts as well.
For me, I’m trying to stick to a schedule by blogging once a week. Once a week because I know I’m not that great of a writer or even a fast one, so I’m just taking it slowly and trying it out for a year. I just have to persevere and be patient with myself even if I don’t have a lot of readers.
One week at a time is the only way to go. I’ve found changes in viewership seems to go in spurts. You start to think you’ve hit a plateau you’ll never increase from and suddenly you hit that right post… the one that speaks to everyone. I just wish I knew which ones they were before I posted them.
I’ve found that focusing on forward progress helps me to stay motivated. More times than I care to mention, I’ve set a big goal, fell short of achieving it and completely given up altogether. I’m still setting big goals because I think they’re important but I’m also giving myself some grace. If I’m moving forward and not backward, there’s a win to celebrate.
So very true. Big wins or great but you need small ones to keep you pushing forward. Thanks for stopping by.
I have decent will power, and consider money in Vanguard untouchable (even if it is). I lie to myself about my checking account lower limit and have for so long I don’t know the real one. I struggle more with things like consistent meditation practice because of trying to make / find time in my schedule and then having things change that schedule like visiting my sister over a weekend. Life was hectic in Jan due to some family stuff. Seems like we are getting back to normal so maybe I can try again.
Great point, perseverance is important even on the softer side of life. I trust February has settled down a bit for you.
If you plan to stay ahead on the road of financial independence, you need to use the above financial tools to make easy to life.
Nice financial topic on which discussion is going on. Obstinacy is totally depends on the human mind. But if it moves slowly and silently with planning, one can get success to achieve anything.