How to stick to New Year’s Resolutions !!

Last year I have written an article on Resolution for 2018: Be Healthy & Wealthy.  Similarly many of us make resolutions every year, but as the time goes by motivation to stick with those resolutions weakens and after a couple of months we are back to our old life style.

So what should we do to keep them actually working?

Generally we make resolutions in terms of what we shall not do and end up thinking more about it and reinforcing the earlier habitual decision. On the other side we decide to do certain things in a particular way and make it so rigid that slipping up is the final outcome leading to disappointment.

We human’s understand the reward and punishment/ pain easily. We want rewards for our actions and dislikes the pain. Hence if a new actions do not result in pleasure or positive outcomes, we lose the interest.

So how should we make resolutions which are easy to implement and keep us motivated to continue with it? Let us take few example from the world of Personal Finance.

1. Can’t Control your Spending Spree, Let’s Try this!

To Control Spending we make a resolution to limit our use of credit card or EMIs for purchases. But it does not work as we try to restrict the things in our old habit. So let us change this by making a resolution to use Debit card instead of Credit card. This way we are creating new habit where we would be spending money which we already have in our Bank Account and as we spend our bank balance goes down, which means we see the immediate outcome of our expenses and have a limit only up to the money in our bank account. This could be more effective way to control our expenses.

2. Want to Save but don’t left with money at the end of the Month, Try this!

We all know saving is very important so as to have money for future requirements, and most of us want to save but by the end of the month when we check our bank account we find nothing is left to save. So how to change this habit. Let us change this habit by saving on the day we get our salary rather than waiting for last day of the month. Systematic Investment Plans or better known as SIPs are the best way wherein we can decide the date and amount to invest in and the money gets debited directly form the account. We can also target our savings to a specific goals and have a picture on mind that by this money we will get this particular thing, this will further motivate us to save more.

3. Want to upgrade with new things on EMIs, Try this!

We get attracted to new things in the market. New Smart TVs, Mobiles, New Cars and so on. Even though we may have brought it just last year we want to buy new with the new features. Companies market them in such a way that we just get carried away with their new features. Let’s us check whether we are using all the features of our current mobile rather than just running behind to buy a new one. Do we actually need that item with new feature? Here what is more important is to focus on what we already have and are we enjoying/utilising it fully so as to redirect our attention on using things effectively rather than acquiring them. We need to take time and enjoy the things which we already have rather than focussing on what we don’t have by this we may be able to redirect thinking on more positive way.

Saving is a decision where we deny our self the pleasures of spending. The money we save is set aside for an unknown future which can be used to enjoy something in the present. Our human brain cannot trade off the immediate joy for a distant good very easily. Many of us make a virtue of living for the present, to guise our inability to save. Investing is a long term activity that does not show up gains too soon to keep us motivated hence we need to make our savings more attractive and target oriented so that we have the reasons to save and not spend.