I have a guest post on How to Save Money on a DVD Exchange at Tight Fisted Miser. If you click from there, welcome to my blog. Please consider subscribing as you will find that we cover a lot of the same things.
Not made with money had a post on how to start your savings with financial acceleration. This was a really good idea and I still wonder why I didn’t think of doing a post like that considering my amazing beauty and beautiful teeth Ron (The Wisdom Journal) referred to it as “crowbar maneuver” (I took the liberty of stealing Ron’s name for this article) while I take every chance I get to quote Yoda’s “Do it or don’t do it. There is no attempt“. Of course this is against the popular way of setting small goals.
Setting small goals is good and apparently psychologically proven to work.
However, the way most people go about it is completely wrong. However in the real world, trying is not enough. When realizing that change is needed, a person should set a big goal. Often this goal is far beyond one’s current way of thinking. People who are in debt can’t imagine what it’s like to have tens of thousands in savings. People who are used to taking paychecks can’t imagine what it’s like to not work to pay the bills. People who are overweight and think of taking the stairs as a form of exercise can’t imagine what it’s like to think of a marathon as a piece of cake.
In financial terms, this article suggests not spending money. Antishay thinks the same thing. It sounds annoying, though if one is trying to cross a chasm, it does not make sense to focus on jumping halfway across and then jumping the other way.. Aim to jump all the way or don’t jump at all.
But don’t you set yourself up for failure, one might ask? Remember Yoda. There is no attempt. So if you are committed, there is no failure. You will eventually succeed.
Do you want to be free within the next five years? If so, get rid of the car, move to a 1 bedroom apartment (per adult), cancel the cable, turn down the thermostat, and stop buying anything other than food. You will be surprised how much money you actually have. Even a slight slip reduces the amount of money in your hands, so go for it. How long can you last without spending anything at all?
If you just want to get out of debt or if you’re just fine with working for another 20 years, drastic measures are needed. But if you want to be financially independent, starting small will delay your target date.
Do you want to be in shape? Same thing. Revive your diet completely. Don’t start with the idea of eating a healthy meal once a week or adding a salad to the diet. If you do, please don’t be surprised why you are not seeing results. Start exercising every day. Obviously a person cannot be expected to perform like a professional athlete right away but they can expect daily effort. Small goals come from doing from 10 to 11 a day and then 12. Not from working out once a week to working out twice a week and then having pizza to celebrate.
If you decide to do something, use full power or not. I do (I don’t try 
) This is the origin of the “extreme” part of the blog’s name. Limited effort is inefficient because of the way progress can be measured on an S-curve (Pareto Law). In other words a well run average program beats a poorly run good program any day. Now one can find good programs in blogs, books, magazines, trainers, coaches, mentors, etc. One can get average programs or even bad programs. Most importantly, the execution of the plan, always depends on the individual. Killing shows what a person has done.
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First posted 2008-02-20 07:34:56.
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