We’ve all been disappointed with goals we set that fell by the wayside.

This new year, try my goal setting method so that you see your financial goals through to the end of the year.

This video breaks it down, step by simple step.

TRANSCRIPT:

You’ve got money goals, resolutions or just the new you that you’re becoming in the new year and you need help to make them a reality once and for all.

In this video I’ll share the 7 easy steps for setting financial goals that you’ll actually stick with. And I’ll show you how to use these steps to achieve the 3 most common financial goals. As you would expect from me by now, these steps are a combination of mental & emotional steps – what I refer to as airy-fairy- and concrete practical action steps. They’re both equally important so you’ll need to really lean into the ones that don’t come as naturally to you.

So let’s get started. We start in our heart.

Step 1 is to reflect on your values and priorities for the year. Take some quiet time to yourself to get centered and grounded so you can consider what is truly important to you and what financial achievements align with your values, rather than your ego. This ensures that the goals you’re committing to are really worthwhile to you on a deep, even spiritual level.

As you think about the goals, allow yourself to tap into the feelings that you want to feel when you accomplish that goal. Think about all the ways it will benefit you, your life, and those you love. Sounds sappy, I know, but you probably already know that with any goal, what we’re really after is the feeling it will give us, rather than the goal itself. And when you visualize a goal and get a taste of its benefits, which are the feelings, you’re more inclined to stick with the goal because you’ve primed yourself for those feelings.

You don’t stay committed to a goal because it’s just a good idea. It has to drop into your heart and nervous system. So that’s part 1 – visualize the goal so well that you can actually feel yourself accomplishing it.

Now we go from airy-fairy into a concrete step.

Step 2 is to articulate the goal into something specific and measurable, in other words, something that can be broken down into steps or chunks. So instead of a vague goal like “spending less so you can save more”, specify a number and measure of time. “I will save $6,000 this year.” If you divide 6,000 by 12, you’ll get $500, which means that the goal, broken down into a more do-able step, is to save $500 each month.

Now you have set clear milestones that allow you to track your progress, you’ll re-motivate yourself each month when you accomplish a step along the way. If you miss a step, let’s say one month that you don’t save anything at all, then you can tweak the goal by committing to save an additional $250 in the next two months so that you get back on track with the overall goal of saving $6,000 this year.

Now we move from concrete back to airy-fairy land, but this is important so do not skip this.

Step 3 is to set your beliefs. There are several important ones. One you have to believe that you can attain the goal and each step along the way to achieving it. That means your goal has to be realistic to your brain. If you get overly ambitious and you don’t really believe you can accomplish the goal, you’re most likely to end up frustrated, discouraged, and ultimately give up.

In addition to believing the goal can be accomplished, you need to believe in yourself, that you possess the skills and capabilities to see the goal through to the end. You need to believe that you deserve the achievement. And you need to believe that you are worthy of the goal and its benefits.

All of these beliefs are super important components of creating a goal that sticks. Otherwise, as time goes on or if any obstacle arises you might just say, you know what? Just forget it, I can’t do it, and it’s not worth it anyway. Sound familiar?

Now we go back from airy-fairy land to a very grounded place.

Step 4 is to create your budget for the new year that incorporates your goal into it. That could mean that the goal gets its own budget category, or if it fits into a category you already have, that you budget enough money for that category to fulfill your goals. It will also mean adjusting the other budget categories so that the total you spend each month doesn’t exceed your income.

So let me weave in here the most common money goals and how they would be incorporated into your budget. Most financial goals fit into three buckets.

The biggest bucket is savings goals – so that would include saving for an emergency fund, saving money to invest, saving money to buy something or go somewhere, or saving money so that you can pay off debt.

The second bucket of the most common financial goals are related to fixing your finances and improving your credit. This includes getting organized so that you can pay bills on time and in full, reviewing and fixing issues in your credit report, refinancing or consolidating debt. A big part of this goal is also paying down balances which overlaps with the first bucket because a goal to pay off debt overlaps with goals to save more money.

And then the third bucket of financial goals are goals of increasing income. So that could be asking for a raise, applying for a promotion, completing a course or classes to start your own business, buying a business, or investing money into a business you already have.

For all the savings goals, you’re going to figure out how much money you want to save each month and include that in your budget. Then complete the rest of your budget for the remaining categories around the savings goal. That usually means you need to trim back on some other budget categories in order for the total you’re going to spend and save each month adds up to your net income.

For the credit related goals, you’ll first figure out how much of that savings you’re doing every month is going to go towards debt repayment. And then you’ll put in your calendar, the day and time where you’ll make a payment OR you can set up an automatic transfer.

For the rest of the credit goals, I’d write out the steps to your goals and then put each step into your calendar so you assign yourself specific days when you will complete each step. This is where that chunking down big goals into steps comes into play.

For goals related to increasing your income, these often require some money as well. Money for you to buy an asset you’ll use in the business, money for learning skills you’ll need, money for marketing efforts, etc. So unless your plan for increasing income is simply asking for a raise, then you’ll need a budget category for this venture.

Decide how much money you’ll spend this year towards your business. Maybe this year you decide to stick to developing your skills and building a website. Let’s say you figure out that the course you’ll take and the website you want will cost a total of $3600. Divide $3600 by 12 and you get $300. So allocate $300 per month in your budget for this category. You may need to adjust the rest of your budget so that the total of your monthly spending and savings don’t exceed your monthly net income.

Once you set your budget, the next step, step 5, is to plan for tracking. This is incredibly important so stay with me here. In this step, you figure out how you will track your monthly spending in all budget categories to make sure that your spending has aligned with your budget. This means figuring out, setting up, and getting comfortable with a system for tracking.

You can use a budgeting app or as I prefer, doing it manually with pen and paper or a Google sheet. Tracking is both a critical skill and habit you absolutely need in order to stick with your goal, so be sure to learn it and feel settled in it by the time the new year comes around. This is the piece that gets missed and where most goals go off the rails. Unless you have a way to track your progress, and you have a habit of doing it each month, it’s hard to stay motivated and on track with a goal.

Almost done here. Step 6 is automating any part of your goal that you can. For most goals, this means setting up an automatic transfer from your checking to your savings each month. Or putting debt repayment on auto pay.

Finally, Step 7 is having accountability. So find someone, could be a friend, family member, or financial coach that you will check in with regularly to discuss the progress of your goal. Make sure that person is able to hold you accountable and provide you valuable feedback, support  and encouragement.

So there you have it, the 7 steps to sticking with the most common money goals you have. I would love to hear if you think these steps will work for you. Please let me know in the comments and I will catch you in the next video.