Blazing Your Own Trail
Look before you leap!
As a recent grad, you have a lot going on right now. You might even find it challenging to focus. I get it. Even mundane tasks can be a source of stress. That’s why it is super critical to know when you are most effective and how your environment affects your mood. Stress significantly reduces your ability for critical thinking.
There’s a direct correlation between how you feel and what you are able to accomplish. One of the most important financial habits that will help you understand your own productivity flow, is to track your activities, routines and progress. Daily behaviors are a reflection of how you feel. Most days, you are either trying to avoid discomfort and pain or trying to gain more joy and happiness.
Plan, track and adjust
The best place to get started is to use a daily planner or journal. Be sure it’s small enough to carry with you everywhere. Whenever you have a minute or two, jot down any financial decisions or actions you’ve taken throughout the day. Add as much detail about it as you can – whether it was a planned bill, unplanned purchase or a tip.
Try to capture what you can:
- Purpose – what need did it fulfill? Give it a category.
- Time and Place – what time of the day and where were you?
- Mind and Heart – how were you feeling and what thoughts impacted your decision?
- People – who were you with or who else is affected by your decision?
Over time a story will begin to emerge that shows what influences your financial decisions – both planned and unplanned. For example, if you are feeling tired and hungry, you may discover that’s when you order delivery the most or devour a bag of chips. The more you are aware of how things affect you the better prepared you will be to make the better decisions.
This is where financial productivity comes into play. It’s important to build healthy financial habits that will guide you and minimize the impact of external circumstances on your finances.
- Track what you are doing and analyze your activity
- Identify the activities you want to do more of and which ones you want to reduce or eliminate
- Clarify how your activities align with your dreams and goals
Ready to create your own Action Plan?
Take the first step and create a clear vision of the life you want to have. We’ve created a financial handbook for recent graduates and young professionals – Financial Wellness 101:
- Online self-paced course
- Develop healthy financial habits
- Learn how to stay grounded even in the midst of challenges and disruptions
- Understand the financial metrics that matter the most
- Craft a life-vision to help guide daily financial decisions
- Build a solid financial foundation
- Unlimited access to the course and materials
To help you get started right away, take advantage of our special through June 12th. Use coupon code 50PERCENT at checkout for 50% off the regular price of $199.
Until next time!
Your Coach at My Financial Zen