FINDING YOUR FINANCIAL WHY

By Jean Archary

As we near the end of another year, reflecting on what has and hasn’t worked can help us to significantly improve our plans and actions for the new year.

If we want different results, we must take different actions.

If you’re feeling stuck, your progress has been slow, or it seems as if, no matter what you do, your situation never seems to improve, know that you are not alone.

Awareness is always the first step to finding a solution or correcting your course. For years, I’d known that my diet was deteriorating and sabotaging my attempts to lose weight. Yet I kept doing the same thing over and over, which was to continue eating unhealthily. I justified this by training at the gym five to six times a week. I would tell myself, “I can afford to eat what I want, because I train,” or “My weight loss is slow because I have an underactive thyroid.”

As a result, my weight never seemed to drop, and the energy this occupied in my headspace was a constant reminder that I was unsuccessful at reaching my goals. I knew that I was selfsabotaging, but I continued to do so.

It was only when I reached a point of absolute frustration that something in my brain clicked. I

realised that I was not prepared to continue stopping myself from reaching my goals. After all, the only obstacle standing in my way was me. Something had to shift inside my brain before I could start improving. Once that happened, every decision I made was aligned with my goal.

The reason I share this is because it is the same for every goal – including those involving money and finances.

So many of us are in the habit of self-sabotaging our financial dreams. Why? Because it’s easier to do what we have always done. It’s easier to say ‘yes’, than it is to say ‘no’. And it’s easier to stay within our comfort zones.

Half your battle is won when you discover the true reasons behind your financial WHY. This must be deeply personal in order for you to stay committed to the actions you need to take from there. Reaching my goal weight could have happened far quicker than it did if only I had started by identifying my core reasons for wanting to do so.

Here are three essential questions you need to ask yourself to help you find your financial WHY:

• On a scale of one to ten, how important is it for you to improve your financial situation?

• On the same scale (with one being ‘very little’ and ten being ‘everything it takes’), how much effort are you willing to invest in this?

• What are your top five reasons for wanting to improve your financial standing?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jean is the founder and owner of Money Messages, which offers financial education, wellness, and coaching solutions to help individuals and organisations to shift the way they think, feel, and behave in relation to money. For more information or to get in touch, visit www.moneymessages.co.za.