When is the last time you celebrated a financial win? I listen to my friends and readers tell me how difficult their financial problems are to solve. And I agree – IF you look at their obstacles in totality it may seem insurmountable. We see a steep mountain, in Siberia, covered in ice, with below freezing temperatures and wind chills of -40 degrees. BRUTAL!

Let’s look at some obstacles/mountains you may face:
• Do you have tens of thousands in credit card debt?
• Zero saved for emergencies?
• Six figures in college loans?
• Not contributing to your 401-K?

There are millions of Americans checking one or more of the above boxes. I was one of them not long ago. You recognize something needs to change but what? Well let’s start with a giant flamethrower for that frozen mountain. {By the way, Elon Musk’s Boring Company sells flamethrowers. No idea why! And NO I did not buy one. My wife would not let me, after I told her what I planned to do with it. Use your imagination!}. But I regress; we need to deice that cold frozen thing, a few feet at a time. And celebrate our short-term wins! Because by breaking your obstacles down into smaller targets, and achieving small wins, you set yourself up for a life time of sustainable wins/wealth.

One of my favorite college professors, Dr. John Kotter wrote an excellent book, “Leading Change“. He believes that short-term wins are essential to achieve sustainable change. I have tried to practice in both my professional and personal life to achieve and celebrate short-term results. We all NEED to see short-term results to build confidence we can achieve the ultimate big picture result/WIN. If your goal is to lose 50 pounds, you do not wait until you lost the entire weight to celebrate. Maybe you celebrate every five or ten pounds lost, encouraging yourself to keep going and achieve your final goal.

So lets go for a small, quick financial wins. You pick what your short-term project is. For this blog, let’s assume you have zero emergency savings. Now the general rule is you need six months of living expenses in emergency savings. I am guessing very few Americans have that! But you are not going to stay in that group. Your short-term win is going to be to save $1,000 into an emergency fund that you will only touch in serious emergencies. If that dollar amount is too low for your taste increase it. How are you going to do it? Are you going to pull 1-5% from each check? Are you going to get a part time job? Figure out how you will achieve $1,000 in emergency savings and GET STARTED. Then, CELEBRATE your win!

If you have some emergency savings but have a load of debt and need a win, pick the smallest debt you owe and go for it. Increase your payments above minimum due and eliminate that date. See April 5, 2018 Blog: Steps To Achieve Financial Freedom By Becoming Debt Free https://wealthbuildingpowers.com/2018/04/05/four-steps-to-achieve-financial-freedom-by-becoming-debt-free/

THE ROLE OF SHORT TERM WINS
• Proves the sacrifice is worth it. You saved that $1,000, so you feel more confident tackling your next short-term goal.
• After a lot of hard work you reward yourself. You celebrate that $1,000 emergency fund.
• It helps you to develop your long-term strategies. Helps you decide what is next. Do you tackle your credit card debt? Do you increase your emergency funds to one full month of expenses?
• Builds your momentum. Click below link to see a brilliant short term wins strategy, $1,000 at a time, to pay off: $202,000 in Debt in SEVEN YEARS!
http://time.com/money/5404641/behavioral-psychology-student-loan-debt/

The key thing about achieving a win is to celebrate. Now celebrate does not mean to take your emergency savings and spend it. Or to spend something on that credit card you just paid off. There are numerous things that bring you joy. Many cost $0. Pick one or more of those things and celebrate, preferably with someone you care about.

CONCLUSION
Congratulations on starting your short-term goal. Once you achieve success you have proven you can motivate yourself to change. Pick your next target, a harder target and get started. Do not wait to celebrate when you have six months of expense dollars saved or you have paid all your debt down. Set realistic milestones and celebrate. Tell your family and friends what you are doing and many will be your cheerleaders and help you achieve your goals. These are the people to celebrate with.
As you achieve your milestones, write a comment on any of my blogs and share your many successes!

DISCLAIMER
I am a proud nerd (my beautiful wife and daughter told me so) investment and finance blogger, with a Rutgers, MBA and Harvard, Advanced Management. I am a successful investor in equities and real estate and happy to share my personal finance and investment lessons learned with you. I am NOT however, a licensed financial advisor. Please do not construe my suggestions on this blog, as recommendations for your personal situation. For individual finance advice please seek your own licensed CPA or financial advisors.