You’re struggling to meet your financial goals. How can you get back on track?

I've always found it helpful to write on paper what i want to accomplish. something about having a pen in hand and writing on paper gives more credibility to a goal I have. writing on a computer is great but it can be easily deleted and changed. Once something is written down it feels more real to me.

What is your financial doctrine? Meaning what is most important to you today and in the future. All to often we set goals according to what we are taught or told should be important to us. As a result the goals we "set" really aren't ours or have enough meaning to put forth the effort in accomplishing them. When you sit down and either set or review your goals ask yourself does that really mean enough to me that I'm willing to make the sacrifices necessary to accomplish it. If the answer is no throw it out regardless of how good it looks on paper or in the eyes of others you're never going to do it. Once you have set goals that truly matter to you then using something like the SMART structure will help moving you forward.

The single biggest game changer for me and my clients has been implementing a change to their structure. Because of the default cashflow structure we've been given we unintentionally put our financial freedom at the bottom of the food chain. As a result we're left chasing our financial goals wondering why they constantly elude us. Making the shift of how money flows through your world, financial freedom is now at the top of the food chain and you find yourself living a more abundant and intentional life.

Once you have created your financial doctrine (set goals important to you) and implemented a cashflow structure that puts your financial freedom at the top of your food chain it's time to execute. With my clients the cashflow structure has a reservoir that automatically fills every month. When there is excess in the reservoir the conversation goes like this ____ you now have X amount in excess of your target sitting in your reservoir. Would you like to spend it on life style or acquire a tax advantaged cashflow asset that will take pressure off of the paycheck and allow your reservoir to fill even faster? Every time this process is duplicated you increase your cashflow momentum leading you closer and closer to your financial freedom.

Having your plan in place is an important step. But the actual follow through is where the rubber meets the road. You want to be able to establish systems to put your plan into motion. This may include setting up calendar reminders, follow ups, and a daily top 3. Remember, you may not be able to accomplish everything you planned to in the day, but tomorrow is a new day and don't be disheartened that yesterday wasn't as successful as you thought. Focus on the tasks you can get done in front of you. Be 1% better than yesterday. As we see with compounding interest in the stock market, small gains over time create an avalanche of success in the long run. Keep going!

The best way to know if you are making progress is to check where you have been and to compare to where you are now. As a former auditor, my goal was to find enough evidence that the information being reported was reasonable enough. We always need to look backwards to be able to do an estimate of the future. The same is done with monitoring your progress. To build out your future plans, you should do a review of the past month, quarter, year to be able to see areas of positive growth and areas where you were behind or where you could have some improvements.