10 Ways to Stop Procrastinating On Your Money Goals: Just Do This!
Procrastination is one of the biggest thieves of living the dream life you want, and it is a common trait in humans. Napolean Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, described it perfectly: “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”
People procrastinate for many different reasons, but it all leads to the same destination: Nowhere. If you find yourself with the same financial goals year after year with no progress in sight, there is probably some procrastination involved. Below is some information on some of the reasons you might be procrastinating, ten tips to teach you how to stop procrastinating, and some words of wisdom from several successful people.
1. Be Real With Yourself
The first step in learning how to stop procrastinating is to understand what will happen if you don’t. Many of us put things off because we think we have plenty of time. We assume that there will always be tomorrow. And while I certainly hope that is true for all of us, ask yourself a question: How many tomorrows have already passed?
If you are like most of us, the truth is that tomorrow you were waiting for has come and gone many times. It’s time to understand that if you keep putting it off, then it’s never going to happen. If you don’t get started, then twenty years from now, you’ll look back with regrets.
“Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.”
You have to understand that:
If you don’t save for retirement, you will have no money to retire on.
If you don’t improve your credit, that new home will remain a dream unless you can pay cash BUT
If you don’t put away money, you will not have the funds to pay for a home outright.
Without paying off debts, they will remain.
One of the more interesting results of the research however, was an incIn short, if you don’t make moves, you are never going to reach your goals.
Some of you might be thinking that none of this will be a problem once you become a YouTube star or open your million dollar Etsy store. I am not even going to address the complexities surrounding either of those. Yes, it can happen, but those take work, too.
You can do those things and fulfill any other dream you wish. However, you cannot sit around and just wait for them to happen. The truth is that everything takes work, so waiting around for things to just fall into place is not a good plan.
Steve Jobs said:
If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.
You have to put in work to build the life of your dreams. Once you accept this fact, you should be more willing to shift into action mode.
2. Make a Plan
Another reason people fail to reach their goals is a really simple one: They have no plan to do it. And in the famous words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by actions makes your dreams come true.”
Think about it: Let’s say you decide to go on vacation. What happens next? Well, nothing yet. Just saying, “I’m going on vacation,” does not make it come true. You have to let that spur you into action to decide where you are going, how you will get there, and so on.
Now, you have a plan. Does that plan teleport you to your destination? No- unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Instead, you have to take that plan and break it down into steps like booking your flight and hotel, packing, buying supplies, and whatever else you need to do. Then, you can put your plan to work.
The same is true for any goal. You have to break it down into action steps, and the smaller you can make those action steps, the easier it is to accomplish. I aim to break my financial goals down into five-minute tasks. That’s not always possible, but the less time it takes, the easier I can slide those steps in between all of my other tasks.
Let’s take that same vacation. Instead of my steps saying “book flight,” “pack,” and “shop,” it would look more like this:
Pick date
Compare flight prices
Book flight
Check toiletry stock for a list of things to buy
Make sure swimsuit still fits
Find flip flops
List of snacks to take
Buy sunscreen
Pack toiletries
Pack socks
Request vacation time
I’ll stop there because this list could continue forever. However, you can see from this list that almost everything- except maybe comparing flights- can be done in a couple of minutes. This means that every time I have five minutes to spare, I can pick something on the list and get it done. I rarely have five minutes, but when I do, I know exactly what to do.
As a side note, this is a really good practice to be in, so when your best friend or your mom calls to chat, you can work on the mindless tasks- like packing socks. Breaking goals down like this makes them so much easier to achieve.
To be the most effective with your plan, you need to do two things:
Make sure they are SMART financial goals.
Break them down into the tiny tasks we discussed a moment ago.
3. Do Something Right Now
Do you really want to learn how to stop procrastinating? Apply this simple principle:
“Action will destroy your procrastination.”
Now that you have your goals broken down into tasks, pick one and do it- like, right now. Need to open a savings account? It takes five minutes online. Need to set up automatic transfers to your investments? Stop and get it done. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now.
One of the more interesting results of the research however, was that, the best way to stop procrastinating is to bust a move and build momentum. Remember that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Get yourself moving on just one task, and let that momentum take on a life of its own.
And, by the way, don’t think too long about what your first action should be. Thinking about it too long just further delays you.
You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just to take the first step.
as Martin Luther King, Jr. said. Just start stepping.
4. Find Your Motivation
A great method for learning how to stop procrastinating is finding something that motivates you. Maybe quotes do not inspire you. That’s okay, but I’m willing to bet that something does. There is something that can propel you forward- something that makes you get out of bed every day. Something that can push you through the toughest of times and the darkest days.
Whatever that thing is, find it now and put it to work for you. Don’t know how to do that? No problem- here are some ideas to help you get started.
Make a Vision Board
This proves to be successful for many people. A vision board is a very simple platform, like a poster board, corkboard, or something similar. On it, you place pictures of the goal you want to obtain.
To be successful, though, you don’t stop there. Let’s say you want to take a beach vacation. Your vision board will, of course, have pictures of the beach on it. However, you need to make it personal- you need to be able to visualize yourself there. Seeing your goal come to fruition is like a salve to a painful wound.
Pick a Song or Movie
I know, this seems silly to some people, but it can work wonders. When I feel like I am losing control of some part of my life that I should have control over or I’m feeling weak or overwhelmed, Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” helps.
“The Blind Side” movie helps me, too. When I watch Sandra Bullock’s character, it gives me strength. I love how she notices a problem and immediately gets to work fixing it, letting nothing- and no one- stand in her way. She just makes it happen and seeing her do that makes me feel bold enough to do the same.
Visualize
Visualization is a very strong motivator. Close your eyes and dream about where you want to be and what you want to do. Imagine yourself already there. Imagine how you will feel and keep that in your mind. Every time you feel like procrastinating, call up those feelings and those images.
Find something that makes you feel the same- something that you can read, watch, listen to, make, or whatever. It does not matter what you need to do to get yourself moving in the right direction- just do it.
5. Commit to Just One Thing for Now
Another common reason people fail to meet their goals is overwhelming. For example, on or around January first every year, people around the country proclaim they are going to lose 20 pounds, get out of debt, pay off their house and car, get that promotion, and 100 other things.
Here’s the thing: You can do anything you want to do, but it is incredibly difficult to try to do it all at once. You cannot give your all to everything. When you try, something- or everything- suffers. Let’s not let that happen. Instead, pick just one thing you can commit to- just one. Choose one goal, and then just one task to help you meet that goal.
None of these things are bad. The problem is that people try to do them all at once.
If your goal is to save, for instance, you might decide to stop hitting the drive-thru on Friday nights and cook at home instead. Or to open a savings account and start putting money into it. If you do choose that, we suggest picking one from the list below:
For the moment, focus only on that. Make that one thing a habit, and then you can move onto the next step.
6. Put It On Autopilot
“The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself ”
Instead of having to think about what to do, set it all on autopilot. You can automate your savings, your investments, and anything else you need.
Okay, yes, you have to think about it in the beginning so that you can set it up. After that, though, you can free your mind from it most of the time and just check in with it all to make sure everything is going smoothly. Otherwise, you only need to really think about it when you need to make changes.
7. Pick Your Most Exciting Goal
“Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait- the truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don’t count.”
When learning how to stop procrastinating, give yourself a fun reason to not wait. What is the most exciting financial goal you have? Vacation? New car? Playstation 5? What on your list really excites you?
Whatever that goal is, let it be your first focus and use it to build habits.
We’ll use the Playstation for this example. Let’s say you have determined that you can put $50 a week up to buy it. You are impatient to get it, though, so you dig into your budget and discover that you really don’t watch Netflix all that much, so you cancel it. You have also decided you will get up coffee and two drive-thru dinners each month to get your Playstation faster.
All of that is awesome, and it works out well. Once you start putting that money away, you are surprised to see how quickly it adds up. Next time you hit the gas station and think about paying $5 for a drink and some snacks, you think, “Do I really need this? I’m on my way home to eat, anyway.”
Before long, you have doubled the amount you save each week and buy your Playstation weeks, or even months, ahead of time. Once you have it, don’t go back to your old habits. You discovered you could comfortably live without those things you gave up, so keep doing it. Continue to put the same amount of money up every week, and watch how quickly you meet your other goals.
8. Find Your Tools
After you have set your goals and laid out a bite-size action plan, you need to find the right tools. Not only can they support your goals, but they can also make them hard to avoid.
A day can slip by when you’re deliberately avoiding what you’re supposed to do.
said Bill Watterson. You can fix this by not allowing yourself to ignore them.
Take Care of Your Financial Goals. Visit the Goalry Mall.
For instance, set a reminder on an app on your phone to check in with your budget monthly. Or sign up with a credit monitoring service like Credit Karma. They send you updates when something changes on your credit. Tools like these can encourage you to make necessary moves.
9. Tell Someone Your Plans
This may be one of the most effective motivational tools I have ever known. When you tell someone that you will do something, you feel obligated to do it. We don’t like to fail, so if someone expects us to reach a goal, we are more likely to do it.
This person can be almost anyone- as long as it is not someone who lets you off the hook too easily or even makes excuses for you. For some people, telling their kids is the most effective. None of us want to let down our kids. If we tell them we are going on vacation or we are moving to a better house, we will do everything in our power to make it happen.
For other people, it’s the “realist” in their lives. I know people that if I say I’m going to do something, they respond with something like, “Yeah, right!”, “That will never happen,” or “That would take a miracle.”
And, no matter how many times I hear it, I get angry. Okay, maybe looking at my current situation, it doesn’t seem possible, but here’s the thing: I believe in dreams, and I believe in miracles. I am certainly not going to allow someone else’s lack of faith to dictate whether or not they come true.
Therefore, I push- harder than I normally would- to battle all of the negativity. Here’s a good motto for those who have similar people in their lives
If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.
- Michele Ruiz
Tell the person that will motivate you the most. It can be the person whose negativity makes you work hard, the person who will hold you accountable and encourage you, or someone you just don’t want to let down- whichever works best for you. You might also consider hiring a financial coach to help you with this.
10. Hire Help
Sometimes the best thing to do is to get help. Reach out to a financial planner who can help you with your goals. They can help you formulate a plan, you set up automatic payments to your account, and the advisor can send the payments to the right place. It’s a great way to meet your financial goals without having to do too much yourself.
Conclusion
I sincerely hope that these tips have been helpful in teaching you how to stop procrastinating so you can finally reach your goals. Don’t put them off any longer. As Michael Landon said:
Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.