Financial balance is the last in our series of the five aspects of a balanced life. If you missed the first one, start here. By now you’ve reviewed the emotional, social, spiritual and physical aspects of your balanced life. Now it’s time to bring it all home and wrap it up with the final piece of the puzzle.
Life can sometimes be like the balance scales our grandmothers used years ago with many different aspects of our beings coming together to balance and form the people that we are. We work and play, rest and expend energy, commune with our bodies and souls, exalt in joy and feel sorrow. Balance is the state that someone achieves when all of the aspects of life and self are in harmony. Nothing pull us more off balance than financial demands that challenge and wreak havoc on my relationships, health and career.
One may think that spending too much time thinking about the financial aspects of one’s life may create too many problems. Chasing the almighty dollar, watching the stock market, worrying about your 401k may be ways that you might think about money. The important part of a financially balanced life is that you take care of the little things in your financial life and if you do that you will find financial balance, because the big things will be taken care of if you do the little things right.
Use the same questions to review your current financial situation and set financial goals.
What are your specific goals? Doing goal setting with your finances might seem easy, but it can be harder to pin down your goals than you might think. The key with this piece of the puzzle is to get started before you get overwhelmed with the potential implications. Money matters can be emotional because they affect all other aspects of your life, but if you commit to writing down your goals, you’ll gain clarity and reduce your stress.
How and why are these goals important to you? This one is a no-brainer. Financial goals are important in every part of your life, but if you can, try to get more specific and personalize each goal. For instance, you might want to save more to increase your financial security or you may want to reduce your debt to make room in your budget for more travel. Only you know why your goals are the best for you.
How will you measure progress on these goals? Measuring success doesn’t have to be all about the numbers. It can also be measured in terms of how you’re feeling about your money situation. Is your goal to be more secure? What does that mean to you? How do other aspects of your life play into these goals?
When do you want to reach these goals? Setting a timeline for reaching your financial goals will not only help you achieve them and keep you motivated, but will also help you build the confidence to set and achieve even larger goals as time goes on.
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Now that you’ve gone through the whole process of goal setting for each of the five aspects of your life, review your notebook and your progress on each of your goals. Remember to be consistent with your process, but don’t be so hard on yourself that you give up the process altogether. It’s all about achieving balance, not about overwhelming yourself with more things to do. And keep me posted on your goals here, if you will.
Your Money and Your Life 