Why is it so easy to procrastinate?
I don't know the full answer to this, but psychology tells us that one of the reasons is that procrastination feels really good at the moment and we don’t feel the consequences of procrastinating until much later. Our brains generally prefer happiness today to happiness tomorrow. So when someone tells you to save your money today for an imaginary ‘happier’ future tomorrow, it’s a hard choice to make. Don't worry, it's not just you - all humans face this problem!
The good news is that you can trick your brain into prioritizing your future happiness. Visualization is one of the most powerful tools we have to help us avoid procrastination. That’s why people feel more motivated when they work out while looking at a picture of what they want to look like or find it easier to get through writing a boring report while looking at a picture of their upcoming vacation destination.
How can you apply this to your financial goals? You might have already guessed it. Visualize it!
Do you want to buy a house? Look up listings in your dream neighbourhood, better yet, go for an open house. What flowers are in the driveway? What colour are the tiles? How much will the down payment be? What does that number look like in a bank account?
Find images and videos of the things or activities that saving and investing will let you afford and look at them often. You could go old school and cut out images from a magazine, or go digital and find them online. Place these images in a place you look at often. Change the background of your devices or hang a vision board in front of your phone so you can always see the things you are working towards.
In case you want to buy a certain house, you could even take pictures and videos of the house yourself and then use an app like Canva to make an image of the deposit amount on your banking app. Imagine how powerful that is! If you can do more and visualize the progress as well, you are well on your way to consistently working towards your goals & turning them into reality.
Visualizing your goals is a great way to boost your motivation - but remember to pair this with action. At the end of the day, you need to earn more, spend less and invest the difference so you can get to your goals efficiently.
This article is written by Africa's Pocket an organisation set to help you as an individual to be better at saving and investing so you can get closer to financial freedom.
Check out their website to learn more and sign up for their services: https://www.africaspocket.com