Don't listen to your brain

I have spent the bulk of my week avoiding doing any writing for this newsletter.

Multiple work deadlines, house viewings, life admin and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life have all contributed to me not really having much of a focus on writing. Or that’s the excuse i’ve been saying to myself anyhow.

It’s currently 10pm on Sunday evening and up until about 5 minutes ago, i had almost talked myself into just skipping a week and picking it up again when there’s a little less going on.

There’s one issue with that though, i’d be breaking the commitment i made to myself to send out one newsletter per week.

So, here we are.

Will this be the most intellectually engaging / well written / stimulating thing i’ll ever write? Probably not.

But that’s not really the point, is it.

Let’s talk about commitment in our actions.

Money

Committing to financial goals is a crucial step towards building a secure and prosperous future.

The type of financial goal varies with the stage of life you find yourself in.

Some common financial goals could be for example';

• Building up an emergency savings fund

• Paying off all of your high interest debt (i.e credit cards, car finance)

• Saving up a deposit for a house

• Earning a promotion / changing jobs to increase your salary

• Maxing out your retirement contributions

• Increasing your monthly savings rate

I love goal-setting. With that said, the true essence of goal-setting lies in the commitment to follow through on the necessary daily actions to achieve your goal.

Without this follow through, it would probably be more accurate to define these goals as fanciful dreams that could remain unfulfilled.

Take the time to sit down and really think about what your next financial goal is. This needs to be something that you are serious about achieving. Think more along the lines of “I have to do this” instead of “This would be nice”.

Once you have an idea, map out the steps you need to take to get there. When you know the steps, commit relentlessly to doing what you know you need to on a day to day basis to get there.

For example, if your goal is paying off all of your credit cards as quickly as possible, the steps you’d need to take would most likely necessitate vastly reducing your current level of consumption and spending to free up more disposable income to pay down the debt.

You won’t want to do it.

Your brain will find reasons to justify why you definitely need that Netflix subscription. That ordering Uber Eats wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe it’s been a tough week and you want to go buy yourself some new clothes because, you deserve it.

I mean, how much could it hurt, right?

When your brain inevitably has to deal with these thoughts, fall back on how you felt when you made the commitment in the first place.

Do what you know you need to, not what you want to, and you’re far more likely to achieve the financial goals that you set for yourself.

Mindset

Consistency in taking planned actions is not only the backbone of financial success, i’d go further and say it’s the foundation on which we can achieve personal success and growth.

Don’t not overlook or underestimate the power of following through on doing what you say you’re going to do.

Especially when you don’t feel in the mood or when life adds distractions that make it harder to achieve. Like, for example, when it’s 10pm on a Sunday evening and you told yourself that you’d write and send out a newsletter…

Leaning into this commitment to your actions and making sure you do what’s needed fosters a sense of empowerment for the individual.

It affirms the the individual’s agency over your path in life, reinforcing the idea that positive change is within reach through focused effort performed relentlessly.

This inevitably leads to a better sense of self-perception and improved self esteem, because you have proved to yourself that you are someone who can put their mind to a task and achieve it through nothing more than the power of your mind and your own conviction.

The goals you set and choose to commit to, both personally and financially, is completely dependent on your own value system and what is important to you.

Whatever they are, don’t short-change yourself by saying you’re going to do something and then letting yourself not follow through with the necessary actions to make it happen.

So, think about what you want to accomplish. Then go out there and make it happen.

You’ve got this.

See you next week,

Zain

PS - i’m sure this article got a bit rambly in parts. Writing it right before bed without really taking any space from it and doing a proper edit and revision probably doesn’t lend to the most concise piece of writing. If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for sticking with it!

That said, i’m glad i still decided to write this. I feel good about myself. A positive self image is far better than the alternative.