As the new year approaches, some people are starting to think about setting resolutions. Starting a fresh new year is an opportunity to start over. After the crazy year 2020 has been, people are looking ahead to 2021 in a positive light.
Financial resolutions are always among the top New Year's resolutions. You may have even set some for yourself in the past. Maybe you want to save more money, pay down some debt, or find a higher paying job.
Sometimes, even those of us with the best intentions fail to achieve our New Year's resolutions, and a few weeks into the new year, we've already fallen back into our old habits. Even if you don't set resolutions, these tips will help you as you work toward achieving your financial goals.
When you clarify a resolution, you get more specific. Let’s take one of the resolutions from above: find a higher paying job. This can mean a lot of things. For starters, you could find a higher paying job in your current line of work, or you might want to look for something completely new.
The more specific, the better.
You’ll also want to define what you mean by “higher paying.” Do you have a certain annual income in mind? The more you can clarify your financial resolution, the easier it will be to visualize yourself achieving this resolution. Visualization is a key component to reaching your goals.
Growing up, I was a competitive figure skater. I took visualization so seriously one year that I played my solo music every night as I was falling asleep. I saw myself completing a perfect routine in my head while the music played. The year my visualization practice was the most consistent, was the year I completed the most clean performances in competition and won the most medals.
I’ve heard many experts say that it’s the feeling of achieving your goal you want to create when you visualize. So, if we revisit the higher paying job example, visualize how you will feel when you get that higher paying job and how you’ll feel after that every time you deposit your larger paycheck. Do it every day, not just when you’re thinking about your resolutions, but every single day.
Consistent visualization creates reality.
If you’re having a hard time visualizing your resolution, it could be because you’ve chosen something so huge that you’re not sure how that might feel. That’s totally fine. In order to help you get into that feeling, you’re going to break your resolution down into steps you might find on the way from where you are now to where you want to be.
Let’s say you envision a higher paying job that’s double your current salary. That’s a huge leap. Start by visualizing a ten percent increase. Once that is comfortable for you, try increasing that to twenty percent. Can you see where I’m going with this?
Each time you get comfortable with seeing what each new income level feels like, increase it until you are at the level that is your ultimate goal. You might find yourself manifesting each level of income along the way as you get into the feeling of what that higher paying job is like for you.
Things happen that distract us from our goals. It’s a natural part of life. When that happens to you, it’s important to get back to focusing on your goals. Is that higher paying job you were trying to manifest still your ultimate goal? If it’s not, that’s okay. Repeat the above process with your new goal.
If you do still want the higher paying job, then pick up where you left off. Try and see yourself with that larger paycheck and really feel it. Sometimes things happen that are hard to recover from. These are usually things in our life that have impacted us negatively.
It can be hard to let go of negativity, but it’s a key step in reaching our goals. It’s hard to imagine the good feelings we’ll experience when we reach our goals if negativity is controlling our thoughts. Turn to your journal and try Carrie Rowan’s five ways to release negativity.
Another thing you can do to overcome negativity and reach your financial goals is use affirmations every day. Here are a few to try:
Creating affirmations specific to the goals you want to achieve is a powerful way to keep your energy positive as you work toward achieving your financial dreams. Use your affirmations in fun ways so they are always on your mind. Here are some ideas:
The sky's the limit when it comes to using your affirmations creatively. Whatever will get you thinking about them, saying them to yourself, and feeling happy about your financial resolutions is perfect.
There’s really nothing you can’t work out with your journal and a writing instrument. Here are a few prompts to get you started, but you can also free write about your finances as a way of figuring out what’s stopping you from achieving your goals.
Why haven't financial resolutions worked for me in the past?
This prompt asks you to look at what you’ve tried in the past as a way of teaching you why that hasn’t worked. If you’re not sure about the why part, just write about what you’ve tried. You’ll be surprised what might come up as you’re writing.
What is going to be different with this year’s resolutions?
Here, you’re going to think about all the things you’d like to try that you haven’t tried in the past. Or maybe you want to try something you did in the past, but tweak it a bit to see if it will work better. By writing down what you want to do differently, you’re starting to formulate a plan for your personal finances.
How can I make working on my resolutions a habit?
Habits are second nature to us. We don’t have to think about them, so this is where we want to end up when it comes to our goals. Use this journal prompt to figure out what steps you can take to make all the work you’re doing toward your resolutions a new healthy habit.
Maybe you can say your affirmations while in the shower then write in your journal while you have your morning coffee. The more you can associate these steps with an existing habit, the easier it will be to develop a routine including them.
These tips for sticking to your resolutions work on other types of resolutions too, so if you want to focus on living a healthier lifestyle, go ahead and try these steps. Whether your resolutions are financial or health-related, the key is wrapping your brain around feeling more positive while working on those resolutions and recognizing when you need to journal or use affirmations to create a happier place to visualize from.
Happy holidays, and all the best to you in 2021!
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Have you read this Money Matters article? *What if You Can Only Save a Little?
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Author bio: Michelle Cornish is the author of Prosperity Planner: Manage Your Personal Finances and Get Out of Debt, an undated planner where she shares more about her personal financial journey and her TREE Method for keeping her personal finances in check.