Underachieve Your Way To Success
There’s just something about deciding to overhaul some aspect of your life, isn’t there? Whether it’s quitting smoking, losing weight, getting in shape, finding a job you’re passionate about or getting control over your finances it can be a very empowering and optimistic experience.
Sadly, we often see people getting very passionate about the changes they want to make, and going a bit overboard in their attempt to make it happen and kick start things as quickly as possible. Whilst enthusiasum is great, often once the novelty of change and promise of better things becomes the norm, motivation dwindles and those huge targets you set yourself and all the paraphenalia you bought to help (yes, I’m looking at you, hardly used gym gear in the bottom draw) starts collecting dust.
How can this be prevented? My motto: Underachieve Your Way To Succcess. What does this mean, exactly?
Here’s my five step plan for guaranteed success in any change you want to make in your life:
Step One: Work out what success looks like, and give yourself a time frame. This can be as general or detailed as you like. For example, you might want to lose 5 kgs in the next 6 weeks. Since this is a money blog though, let’s assume you want to get your finances in order! You’ll need to jot down some things that equate to order for you though. For some people this will mean something as simple as not needing to worry if you’ve got paid each month or ’save $5k this year’. For others it will mean writing a budget and sticking to it, reviewing insurance coverage, consolidating superannuation, etc.
Step Two: Remember that timeframe you set yourself? Add 20%. Why? This is because most people, in their enthusiasm set themselves budgets that are too strict, diets that are too harsh and bars that are too high. If you can’t adjust your timeframe for some reason, give yourself a buffer in some other aspect of your goal.
Step Three: Break your goal down into manageable chunks. If you decided to run a marathon, but you’re a couch potato you wouldn’t wake up on Saturday morning, get dressed and set out to do it, would you? No. You’d spend months training and reading and devising the right diet and so on to work yourself up to your ultimate goal and put yourself in the best position for success. Achieving any other goal should be the same.
Step Four: Make micro-changes to form new habits and ease yourself into a different way of life. If you want to start saving $100 a month, consider working yourself up to it rather than starting out with your end goal on day one. Take a look at your cash flow now and see how much you could put aside without even noticing… even if it’s only $20. Then have a think about your current spending habits. What tiny thing could you change to find a bit more money to increase that? Don’t go crazy here – we’re looking for little incremental alterations to your life. Perhaps you could have coffee one day less a week? There’s an extra $12 a month! Or bring your lunch from home one day a week? $40 a month! Buy your train/bus/whatever ticket in bulk? It all adds up!
Step Five: Reward yourself for your victories, no matter how small. Just try not to think of a reward that undoes your efforts… if you’re working on losing weight, don’t go rewarding yourself with a weekend of gastronomic debauchery! I find it works well to come up with a reward that is in proportion to the size of your success.
And a hot tip for good measure…
Don’t go jumping ahead of yourself and undoing your incremental achievements. The idea here is to be consistent and small, after all. You’ll actually find that your successes will keep you on the bandwagon, driving motivation and keeping you on target. It’s a good thing if you’re itching to make things harder on yourself, and looking forward to when that day comes (on your schedule!). And there’s nothing like being addicted to your own accomplishments!
That’s all there is to it! If you’re thinking it sounds pretty easy, that’s because it is. If you can force yourself to be content with continual improvements rather than attempting overnight success, you’ll find victory more often that not. Or, as the story of the Tortise and the Hare goes – slow and steady always wins the race.
