Good personal finance planning and goal setting isn't much good unless you can develop good habits. It's been said that first you form your habits and then your habits form you. I would add to this that your habits form you and your lifestyle. That said, what could possibly be more important than your financial habits?
In this article, I'll be giving you a peak at some of the strategies for using Powerspending to form good financial habits.
How Are Financial Habits Formed?
Your personal finance planning habits weren't formed overnight, and they won't be changed overnight either. This is why it's important to start with small habits and build up some momentum. People normally try to tackle enormous goals, push themselves hard for a few days or weeks and burn themselves out. This is not the way habits are formed. Habits are formed through subtle changes over a period of time.
So don't be afraid to start small when it comes to forming habits, and don't worry about whether or not you're getting a lot of results. Instead, focus on the fact that you're building empowering habits and the results will eventually come.
Keep a Written Journal
Keeping a hand written journal (not one on the computer) will help you keep track of your progress when forming habits. There are a few reasons to do this. The first is that forming new habits will often challenge beliefs and perceptions which are being used to rationalize your old habits. Keeping a journal will help you identify these beliefs, which are often self-limiting and can cause you to sabotage your own success.
However, if you're aware of these things, you'll have a much easier time changing them and keeping them from getting in the way of forming new habits. Remember, your personal finance planning habits weren't formed overnight, and they weren't formed without reason. Most likely, they're supported by beliefs which aren't going to change easily. Keeping a written journal is the best way to become involved in identifying your self-limiting beliefs about money and replacing them with new ones.
Reward Yourself
Set some landmarks for yourself and find a way to reward yourself for sticking with your commitment to build new personal finance planning habits. Most of us are pretty good at scolding ourselves when we fail, but not good at rewarding ourselves when we succeed. So give yourself the best chance possible to succeed by rewarding yourself for developing good financial habits.