Don’t Procrastinate On Long-Term Goals

You’ve probably heard that you should have goals. Perhaps you’ve even heard that you should write them down on paper.

I agree with both recommendation. One issue I’ve observed, however, is that most of us have a hard time getting started on our long-term goals. We’re all very visual, and visualizing our end state can be difficult because many of our goals may not be achieved for a while. This is particularly true of financial goals, like saving for retirement or paying off your mortgage. I’m 33 years old, and with a 30 year mortgage it’s hard to visualize the day when I own my house free in clear. I’ll be 63 if I make the expected payments, I’ll probably have children that have grown up, moved out, gotten married, and possible had kids. Yikes. It’s hard to imagine!

Likewise retirement or long-term career planning is difficult to do, so most of us tend to procrastinate. If you polled 100 people I would guess that 60 would say they plan to save more next year. I would also guess that 15 of those 60 actually do save more the following year.

The key point is this: long-term goals should be actively pursued. “Long-term” doesn’t mean “wait to start”. It simply means that a long-term goal will require more time and more steps to complete. This is why it sometimes helps to break a goal into smaller steps. If you’re trying to increase the amount you save, try these small steps:

• don’t buy something small you were planning to buy. A soda. A bagel. Dessert at a restaurant. Your goals and your pulmonary system will thank you. Put that money in your savings account.
• increase your retirement account contributions the next time you get a raise. If you get a 3% raise, put 1% more in your 401k. If you get a 1% raise, put 1% more in your 401k!
• set a monthly or yearly debt reduction goal. Just pay off one of your accounts. The more emotion there is to the account you choose the better. Pick the largest one, or the one that calls you the most. Choose the one that has the highest interest rate, or the the one that makes you angry (like a car loan when the car no longer runs!)

Small steps allow you to reach big, or long-term goals. The way to achieve success it to take small steps forward consistently. Action breeds more action, and soon enough you’ll have a paid-for house or a fully-funded retirement account.

Image Credit: eliazar

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