At this time of year I regularly refer back to one of my favourite articles entitled ‘in praise of extreme moderation'.
The essential theme is that we don’t need to chase crazy dreams, or do super human things to be content.
For some people, those things might equal contentment. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us are happier without the pressure of incessant ambitious goals and the need to go faster, harder and more extreme.
At new year, we are faced with people shoving their new year goals and ‘it’ lifestyles down our throats. This leads us to set unrealistic expectations of ourselves and ultimately … fail.
I agree in the premise of goal setting and the importance of fresh starts. We want progress in life and in the way we experience it. The new year is a great time to re-focus without setting yourself up to fail with extreme goals.
How can we combat this?
We would all be better served being kind to ourselves. Someone who lives with moderation aims for contentment in their goal setting and often makes more progress towards a more meaningful goal. Having balance in life can also help us bring energy to the actions needed to meet the goals we set ourselves. As part of our encouragement of moderation, we ask members to focus on the how and not the what. The journey has to be interesting. ‘What’ goals are easy. ‘I want to buy a house in the next year’. ‘I want to go to Barbados’.
But how?
Want to buy a new home next year? Align your ambition with your budget. Start overpayments on your mortgage to build equity in the home you are going to sell. Cut out your binge spending and celebrate staying in.Go to Barbados? Set up an affordable monthly standing order to a cash savings account. Stop splurging on things you don’t need/want. It takes 5 minutes and you can start building a pot worthy of a trip of a lifetime.
Ambitious goals are okay, meaningful goals with actions are better. How are you going to build towards your goals in 2023? Reach out and let me know.
Check out the article here: In praise of extreme moderation
None of the information in this communication should be seen as a recommendation and you should seek independent financial advice.
