The key to financial success doesn’t actually have anything to do with money.
It’s a mindset that you have to keep training like a muscle.
We are tempted with so much advertising everyday telling us to buy things to improve our lives that it can often feel like trying to stop the tide.
On top of this, there are our friends and family, those closest to us judging us for the purchases we make and the stuff we have.
Society as a whole places a lot of pressure on us and in turn we place a lot of pressure on ourselves to buy things that show the world we are successful and have money.
One of the ironic things is that those who make big displays of wealth often don’t have it.
There are people who have been so convinced by others that they have to have a new Mercedes Benz they are willing to go into debt to afford it.
That’s an unhealthy money habit and sounds like someone whose discipline muscle is wasting away.
Thankfully though, like all muscles, if you start exercising discipline you can start to enjoy the benefits.
Your financial life is a marathon, not a sprint. You wouldn’t walk into a gym and start lifting weights like an Olympian so don’t try and start by making a drastic and life altering change like getting rid of your car to save money.
Remembering though you do need to start. Where though?
It could be as simple as have the discipline of passing the vending machine without making a purchase or bringing your own coffee into work instead of buying it everyday.
Once you keep this up for a week it’s time to step it up a notch. You don’t want to plateau.
Week two, try and bring lunch to work everyday AND perform the coffee/vending machine dodge.
Week three, add in cooking a meal on Sunday that you can eat for dinner during the week or cook dinner at home every night.
With just these changes over a year you can see it adds up to nearly $10,000.
| Cost Per Day | Cost Per Week (5 Days) | Cost Per Year (48 weeks) | |
| Coffee | $3 | $15 | $720 |
| Vending Machine/Snack | $3 | $15 | $720 |
| Lunch | $15 | $75 | $3,600 |
| Dinner | $20 | $100 | $4,800 |
| Total | $41 | $205 | $9,840 |
At first, like all exercise, it will be hard but once you have formed the habit you will be fighting fit.
One other thing, we are all human we will slip up financially throughout the year. I certainly do!
What is important is getting back into the groove as quickly as possible, if you have ever started and then stopped exercise you know it gets harder and harder the longer you wait. Don’t let your discipline muscle waste away!