Now that the end of the month has come, one final challenge remains: how does
one keep up the momentum once you start with it? The day to day challenges of
life are difficult and uncertain, so how can this plan ever deal with an ever-
changing life?
Unlike most financial plans, this one has something intimately familiar at its
core: you. Because you’re at the core of this plan and not some form that you fill
in and try to constrain your life to match, this plan can easily grow and change
with you with just a few simple steps.
Once a week, make sure you’re making some sort of progress towards
your short term goals. You don’t have to accomplish something every week,
but keep them in mind – and regularly take the time to make forward progress
towards your dreams.
Once a month, diligently update your life budget. You can do it with just
money, but it’s often useful to re-calculate the hours of your life spent working for
each item each month, as it is a healthy reminder of where your time goes.
Once every few months, evaluate your progress towards your long
term goals. I like to do this on the first day of each season – not only does this
keep me on an every three months pace, it keeps me in mind that time is
passing and the seasons are changing, so I’d better keep up with it. This usually
results in a flurry of new activities for a short period with a gradual slowing down
– but it does keep me always moving towards my goals while many others stay
stuck in place.
Once a year, reevaluate each of your life’s values and ask yourself
whether they match your life now. When I first looked into my child’s eyes,
the values of my life changed quite a bit, and thus my goals changed substantially
as well. From that, unsurprisingly, my budget changed, too: I suddenly found
great value in buying diapers, but also great value in buying books and
educational toys for infants and toddlers. My values used to be such that buying
software was in line with my life goals; now, buying wooden alphabet blocks for
stacking is much more in line with what I want to be doing.
Even if you fall off, there is never a day where it’s too late to get back
on. Even if you find yourself starting to fall back into your old ways, that doesn’t
mean it’s time to abandon the plan. Old habits are hard to break. Try going
through this entire process again to remind yourself where your values lie and
what your goals are.
Good luck.
