Being organized means being orderly, and it is very important in financial planning. Financial planning in its simplest sense, is plotting financial goals you want to achieve in the future and then matching those objectives with your current circumstances. Doing so will requires lots of discipline, effort and organization.
A lot of people overlook the importance of being organized when it comes to finances. A dominating erroneous mindset is earning more money will solve all financial problems. Most people focus on earning more and fail to notice the need to properly manage their finances. Earning more money will help since increasing one’s cash flow is very relevant in making a financial plan, but earning more money alone will not suffice.
Being organized has a lot to do with discipline, a topic most people don’t want to talk about. It is a factor that a lot of people fail to consider in making and following a financial plan. Discipline is the first determinant of whether personal financial goals will be achieved or not. Lack of discipline will assure failure to achieve plans.
Sometimes, not being aware of the benefits is what’s keeping people from doing things. Here are some benefits of being organized when seeking to make more money:
1.) Before going somewhere, you should know where you’re going. The same exact thing can also be said when it comes to finances. Being organized will let you know exactly where you’re going and also let you know what are the things that you must do and adjustments to make. A clear vision or goal at the start is achieving 50 percent of it already. You already know where you’re going or what you want to achieve, the only thing left is to work on it.
2.) Can you exactly pinpoint where half of all your money went in the last ten years? How about just in the last five? Chances are you failed to account for it. Being organized will more or less make you keep track of your finances; you will know where your money is going. In the process and through assessment, you can see the things that you need to change, or expenses that you should omit. Given some time, your money habits improve hence your money is being allocated properly or at least is being traced well. There is nothing worse than earning money, yet failing to account for where it went afterwards.
3.) Saving and accumulating wealth in addition to spending money are habits. It’s the one thing that you do the most that dominates you. By nature, people are spenders, so for you to become better in handling your finances, you need to work on your saving or money management habits. You can start by being organized. Being organized is being disciplined, hence this is the first very simple step in developing good money habits. Research has shown that habits form in 21 days, so strive to become organized in the next 21 days. Whatever your plan is, stick to it.
Being organized about your finances is quite challenging, especially if you haven’t done it before. It means putting things off and fighting impulses that go against your spending nature; start small and simple. Don’t pressure yourself by imposing strict goals. Keep in mind the 21-day habit rule. Start with very simple and doable goals, and after 21 days, set another one that is more challenging. By doing some math, within a year you will achieve more than 10 goals already; that’s not really bad.