One of my favorite blogs,The Simple Dollar, has an article discussing ways to make dramatic changes in your life by taking it one day at a time. I like these type of posts as they are quite helpful for someone just starting to make those financial changes (e.g. yours truly). He also relates it to diet/weight loss goals, which I’ve mentioned before is similar because both require behavioral changes.
The key points I gleaned from the post were to set realistic goals, track your progress, and focus on a series of small changes rather than a series of sweeping ones. One point I would add is to not dwell on mistakes or falling off the wagon. It’s not possible to go back and change a mistake, so all you can do is focus on how to avoid that mistake in the future, dust yourself off, and get back on the horse. This is one area where weight loss and financial matters diverge behaviorally, as if you overeat the solution isn’t to undereat by that same amount for the next few days (unless you want to gain weight). However, you may need to cut back on spending if you overspend unless you don’t like paying your bills on time. Just saying.
Tags: Personal finance