3 Goal Motivation Tips

by MSE Staff | Published 22 Mar 2022 

You are sitting at your desk feeling determined as you draft out your SMART goal. You tuck a copy of your goal away into your wallet for safe keeping and turn in for the night. The next few days are fairly easy for you. You stick to the plan. The future you envisioned is clear in your mind. A few weeks later some novel chaos enters your life; it consumes your full attention as your SMART goal begins to fade. A few months have come and gone, and you are no longer taking steps to manifest your SMART goal. We have all had this experience at least once in life. Fortunately, there are steps that we can take to improve our consistency so that we can bring about the change that we desire in our lives. In this blog post, we will cover 3 goal motivation tips that will help you be more consistent.

Goal Motivation Tip #1 – Focus

Everyone knows that emotions and social situations change all the time. You may be excited about your goal during the afternoon but not so much at 3AM. You might be excited to stop spending your retirement savings on convenience items when your friends are not around but not so much when they are watching. Things change but you need to be consistent to make your vision a reality. One step that you can take is to practice reviewing your vision and SMART goal during times of change. By focusing on manifesting your vision during the worst of times and the best of times you can condition yourself to be aware of your SMART goal even when things change. Keeping your awareness and focus centered on your SMART goal is a skill that needs to be developed. If you can do this, nothing will derail you from your vision.

Goal Motivation Tip #2 – Temptation

All to often we are tempted to do something that prevents us from reaching our goal. This is certainly true when starting out. For example, someone who is working through emotional spending challenges may be tempted to spend all their money when they feel inadequate. This person’s goal to decouple their self-esteem from their wallet and improve their self-esteem can easily be undone by the people in their lives as well as technology – it is far to easy to buy things online if you are not careful. The path of change requires a different route. That means removing the things that trigger us to act out our past behaviors. For the person in our example, spending less time with people who make them feel inadequate and avoiding places where they would spend all their money can support the path to change. Avoiding temptation will help you be consistent with your SMART goal.

Goal Motivation Tip #3 – Patience

More often than not, financial goals are a marathon not a sprint. We experience moments of consistency as well as moments of inconsistency. For example, someone may be working towards making their first $1 million. The path to get there may not be a straight one; but if they are serious, they will take the necessary steps. Having a realistic perception of what to expect can truly boost your moral. You would not say, “I will make $1 million today” and expect to have it tomorrow with all certainty and no action. If you did, you would be disappointed for all the wrong reasons. Instead, be patient and live in the moment. That means today you took another step, and you are pleased because it was in the direction you want to go. With each day, your self-esteem will increase. Your awareness of change will increase, and you can feel better about the progress you make in your SMART goal.

Final Thoughts

Staying motivated to achieve your SMART goal is important. You want to feel good about the choices you make every day and when you do not make progress on your goals that is a problem. Just remember to keep your vision and SMART goal in front of you so that you can be consistent even when your emotions are not. Avoid the things that tempt you and prevent you from reaching your goal. If it gets you to do the opposite of what you want, it is time to turn it off. Turn on the things that keep you focused on your goal instead. Lastly, be patient, be honest with yourself, and focus on today. You cannot change yesterday. You cannot change tomorrow. But you can change today. If you had a setback yesterday, let it go and focus on being consistent with your SMART goal today. We hope these three goal motivation tips were helpful to you. If you have any goals that you would like to see progress in, schedule a virtual coffee with Financial Educator and Wealth Mentor, Curtis Banks.