When asked “What’s your goal in life?” most of us would answer – to be successful and happy. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? The truth is that many of us do not reach our goals purely by believing that we do not have enough knowledge or that we are not the subject expert in this area , and hence how could we possibly achieve such a goal.
Getting an education has always been a top priority of mine from higher education degrees to additional specialized courses. Knowledge is power and I believe many of us are always searching for more information. However throughout the years I have realized that what stops us achieving greater success in our lives is not due to knowledge alone, but instead due to our own behavior and habits hindering us from achieving what we already know. Therefore , your daily behaviors are a much more powerful force in achieving success then just knowledge alone.
Lets just think about this for a minute, we all know that if we wish to lose weight we need to exercise, this is common sense, however how many of us complain about the extra weight? Is it because we don’t know how to exercise? or is it because we lack the behavior required to get us to exercise? I would call this common behavior.
Because knowing how to do something but struggling to get it done is a clear indication that you need to assess your habits and start to learn how to change your mindset in order to achieve success. Understanding what makes you spend , eat, communicate etc a certain way will be key in changing your behaviors. You are now not solely relying on collecting more and more information but rather using the information gathered to implement your goals.
Each of us will be driven by daily behaviors that if we analyze deeply will get us to start questioning its long term effects. What we need to focus on is changing our mindset to tackle our daily behaviors to enable us to create new positive habits that lead us closer to achieving our goals. Personal finance is not about crunching numbers or getting an MBA. It’s a lifestyle that you choose to live. How you live that lifestyle is very much determined on how your mind is set and what habits you follow.
To summarize, if your goal is to improve your personal finances, or become healthier , or start a business etc , then first start by making personal development a priority for yourself by analyzing your habits and behaviors which are hindering your success and work on a plan to change it to a more positive way.