Financial Freedom: One Day at A Time

Attaining any goal, including financial freedom involves much more than setting a goal and having a plan. To make it happen, you need to make progress on a daily basis. You need to generate and sustain momentum in the direction of your goal. You need to develop a habit in alignment with your goal. This needs to happen day by day, one day at a time.

This is where most of us lose the plot. We create lofty goals, start off enthusiastically, and then fizzle off days or weeks later. Nowhere is this more evident than at the beginning of the year, when we hit the road with new year resolutions and lose steam before Valentine’s Day. Another arena this plays out over and over again is in dieting and losing weight.

Setting a goal and starting out is great. Few people get to do that. Our success in getting to our goals depends on our success in sticking with them on a day-by-day basis. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step according to the Chinese proverb. This journey is completed by taking that step one day at a time, every day until you get to your destination.

One of the most important things that happen to you in the journey is who you become in the process. This comes through forming new habits to propel you to the achievement of your goal. By forming new habits, you let go of old habits, becoming a different and better you in the process. The old you cannot make it to your bold audacious goal. You need a new you to make it happen.

It is the decision and the bulldog tenacity to stick with it on a daily basis that will carry you through to the finish line. If you focus too much on the goal, you may become distracted from doing the things daily that will make it happen. The moment you abandon the present and become fixated on the future, you are no longer a dreamer but a stargazer, disconnected from reality.

Break your goal into bite-size pieces and act on each piece daily. It is what you do every day that separates winners from losers. That is why it is critical to associate with people who will feed your momentum, not kill it. Momentum can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

As an ally, it pushes you along. If you apply the brakes, negative momentum helps you slow down to a stop. When this happens, all you have left is excuses.

Break away from the vicious cycle of failed new year resolutions by breaking it down into daily doable steps, and commit to sticking with it. If you can stick with it for more than seven consecutive days, you are well on your way to forming a brand-new habit that will aid you along the way. If you fail, make up your mind to rise up each time you fall. Rise again and again until you finally take to the sky.