Inch by Inch

My mother taught me that:

Inch by Inch it’s a Cinch
Yard by Yard it’s Hard

This is an important thing to keep in mind when working to achieve your goals. Whether financial or otherwise, it’s a matter of perseverance and stick-to-it-iveness. Without those elements I’d say it’s hard to achieve any goal.

Here are a couple of things I think are important in achieving your dreams:

1. Take your goal seriously but don’t take yourself too seriously. If your dream or goal is causing you undue stress you might want to consider if it is really what you want.
2. Dream big. If it doesn’t scare you, think bigger. If you know every step between a to z you probably aren’t challenging yourself up to your potential.
3. Put it out there. Don’t keep your dreams and goals to yourself. Telling your friends and family not only brings them on board with how you envision your life, but it also makes it more real for you.
4. Focus but don’t be blinded by that focus. It takes balance to remind yourself of your path but also keep your eyes open and remain aware of external realities.
5. Give yourself credit for your hard work. Whether that means updating you progress on a spread sheet at payday or giving yourself gold stars on the fridge, make sure you acknowledge your contributions towards your goals.
6. Dream together. While I cherish so many parts of our relationship, one of the best parts of marriage has been learning to dream together. For us this has made our marriage strong and our lives more fulfilling.
7. You can do it! Whether it is chipping away or going at it with a sledge hammer, stick with it and you can accomplish anything!

Readers: I’d love to hear about your goals and how you reward yourself for sticking with it.

Keep with it,

Miel

P.S. Today I chipped away at our second mortgage with a $500 extra payment! :-)