Screw, a year-long resolution.

Enter the power of Micro-Goals.

Last week I said, “SCREW YOU” about the “New Year, New Me” complex, but hey, I’m not against self-improvement. Obviously, otherwise why would I write about taking control of your financial life. So, if you want to do some self-improvement, may I humbly suggest a reframe on the classic New Year’s resolution? Enter the season of micro-goals.

Like most of us, I failed each year at my New Year’s resolutions. Then I realized I should apply one of my favorite money tactics to my resolutions.

Micro-goals.

I’m a big believer in setting a lofty goal and then working backwards to chunk that goal down into manageable pieces. For example, let’s say you want to have $20,000 in two years for a down payment. Then you know you need to save $10,000 a year or break it down even further and you’d need $833.33 a month to go towards that goal. Woof, even that doesn’t feel super manageable, so what if you extend the timeline and it’s $20,000 in four years? $20,000  ÷  48 months = $416.67 a month. 

When it comes to micro-goals, I personally like to create them in categories like: 

• Self-improvement

• Wealth

• Health

• Professional

• Relationships

Start with your big, overarching goal (e.g. the $20,000 down payment) and then focus on the monthly micro-goal. Each month you should write your micro-goal(s) on a post-it and put it somewhere you’ll see it daily. Or you can set alerts on your phone or mark off chunks on your calendar. 

In order to create my annual resolutions, I set time to journal and let my brain ponder the audacious goals I’d like to achieve. Then I select one or two per category to focus on for the year. Once I have a big goal set, it’s time to determine the small, actionable changes I can make each day/month to work towards that goal. 

For example, in the “self-improvement” category, I know that I consume way too much television. It’s my preferred sound to have on in the background all the time when I’m cooking, cleaning, or doing other mindless tasks. This year, I’d like to work towards listening to music instead in order to give my brain more time to relax. Within that goal, I’d like to only consume instrumental music so I’m not just singing along to show tunes – which isn’t exactly relaxing my brain either. However, I’m not going to cold turkey the behavior. Instead, I’m going to set screen time limits for myself in January and then start with listening to show tunes or other music I love singing along to and then slowly start to wean myself each month towards less screen time and more calming music time. 

Other good micro-goals could be:

• Setting time restrictions for when you’ll check social media.

• Not getting on your phone after a certain time at night.

• Setting aside 10 or 20 minutes a day for a skill or activity you’ve always wanted to learn or improve.

• Spend 15 minutes a night reading the book that you feel will help you with your goal.

• Try meditating for 30 days.

• Write a letter to a loved one you don’t live near once a week.

• Set a certain amount of time each week to invest into your long-distance relationships (the family and friends who don’t live near you) in a more meaningful way than sending TikToks and Reels to each other. 

Just like with saving and investing, small amounts can add up to big change! Don’t dismiss taking a small, actionable step daily or weekly.

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What micro-goals do you have for 2023?

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