Challenge yourself: small steps lead to big things

Do you want something different but don’t know where to start? Do you think things could change but haven’t taken any action?

Let’s face it…you aren’t going to change your circumstances just by thinking you want things to be different. What got you where you are isn’t going to get you where you want to be unless you are willing to make some actual changes.

The good news is it doesn’t have to be that hard.

All you have to do is challenge yourself. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. It doesn’t have to be a life-altering event. 

By challenging yourself, you could surprise yourself with how strong you really are. And, it can help you see things in a new light. You may have been doing the same thing over and over and not realizing it. If you challenge yourself to do something different you can change your daily routine to get you closer to where you want to be.

Challenges push us out of our comfort zone. It may sound scary, but you have to get out of your comfort zone to make any progress. Challenging yourself helps you develop resilience and build confidence. When you tell yourself that you are going to do something and then actually achieve it, you’ll be proud of yourself and more willing to make other positive changes.

Small steps lead to big accomplishments

You can’t expect to achieve a big goal overnight. A big goal is…big. On the other hand, a small goal, a small step, can be accomplished rather simply and quickly. The secret to accomplishing big goals is to continuously make small goals happen.

The best thing about small goals is that they don’t seem that daunting on their own. Once you’ve achieved some of them you can look back and see how far you’ve come. It is a great motivator to keep moving forward.

Determine your goal

Let’s say that your goal is to save $500 for your vacation that is coming up in five months. Your first thought might be that $500 is too much for you to save with your current income and expenses. 

Instead of looking at the whole dollar value, think of ways you can break down the amount so that it doesn’t seem like such a big amount. 

Some ideas to save $500 before your vacation are:

• Break down the amounts to $100 per month for the next five months. Now, you only have to save $100 per month. That already sounds easier.

• Round up every purchase to the next dollar or five dollars and put aside the money in a separate savings account.

• Look at your daily habits and see where you spend money without thinking about it. For example, instead of grabbing a sandwich from the cafe near work, bring something from home and save the amount that you would have spent on a take-out lunch. Every time you don’t spend something, move it to a separate account so that it is no longer “available”.

• Analyze your groceries before paying for them. Could you cut back on something for the next couple of weeks in order to save a bit of money? Record what you were going to spend on your spreadsheet. Make sure you don’t use that money for something different. 

Track your progress

If you don’t measure, you can’t know. Tracking your progress on a spreadsheet helps you see how much progress you’ve made. Don’t rely on the money staying in your bank account to determine how much you’ve saved. Make sure you write it down or enter it on the computer. 

Move all the money that you are saving to a different account from where you normally spend. You want to make sure that it isn’t readily available for you to use on something that you weren’t planning. 

If you get ahead of your plan, don’t start spending the excess. Save it! Vacations are always more expensive than you think they are going to be. If you have more saved than you actually spent, put that money into an upcoming vacation fund or your emergency fund. Don’t spend it just because it is there.

By doing a financial challenge like this, you’ll be able to identify places where you are spending more than you realize. Saving money for an upcoming vacation or big purchase might be easier than you realized.

Congratulate yourself!

When you achieve your goal make sure to congratulate yourself. 

Changing your behavior isn’t easy. We do so many things without thinking about it.

Spending money is one of those things. Unless you are very aware of what you are spending you’ll go through more money than you thought. It is amazing how easy it is to underestimate what we spend.