Living an abundant life of financial freedom can be fun to envision. How and when to get started on financial goals can also be fun to envision.
4 Letter Words
The hardest part for many people? Mastering the three 4 letter words.
Taking the first step. The second. Also the third. To keep going all the way to success.
To practice again and again until you nail the skills to start working toward the goal and, more importantly, to follow through on reaching it. But there are many steps along the way, some being significant hurdles. These factors apply to the vision you have for your life,
Including your financial life.
One key way to frame the skills is as three 4 letter words: Goal. Game. Grit.
Goal
You likely have already done it many times in your life: envisioning something you want to have. For some people, it ends right here. They don’t know how to go further than fantasy: they aren’t able to get to the step past naming a goal. They aren’t able to execute. A key word comes into play here and it is: Game.
Game
Some goals can be pretty easy to reach. Not a whole of effort may be needed.
But for many people, most goals need some ‘push’ to them. And the harder the goal, the more ‘push’ is needed. A very key way to frame the push? Gamify it.
Turning a goal into a game is a very common strategy and one you may already be doing. You just don’t call it ‘gamifying’.
This tactic is broadly used to make a financial goal less painful or less boring. It can be a way for us to distract ourselves from the mundane of reaching the financial goal.
When it comes to financial goals, being able to turn them into a game makes the pain (e.g. delayed gratification, impatience, boredom) more palatable.
How to go about this is as unique as each person is. The way to start is to frame a goal in language you understand. And, from there, to link it to aspects of gaming that you are familiar with and already a master of.
Grit
You’ve named your goal. Also gamified it. Now comes the Go part.
This part needs ‘stickiness’. Courage. Strength. Resolve.
In other words: Grit. Having grit might be the most critical aspect to success. This is because without grit, a goal can just become ‘too hard’.
We may get bored or discouraged and just abandon it. Grit equips you with the ability to stay the course, to not deviate from it, and to do the same thing tomorrow and the following day and the following week and the following year and the following decade until you have reached your financial goal.
Sometimes grit is needed to even name a financial goal.
If you haven’t already mastered these three 4 letter words, you still can. The only thing holding you back is you. No matter your age, you can still do it. Admitting to yourself that you want to live a more abundant life of financial freedom is the catalyst to start.
Pursuing our most abundant life, working towards that vision of financial freedom, is us living our richest life.
Ready to take the next step and work with a fee-only CFP? Reach out to schedule a Discovery Meeting to learn more.