For everyone who frequents Bitter to Richer, I hope they’ve taken away the importance of actually beginning when it comes to personal finance. Whether it’s investing, learning some new skills, or getting that side hustle off the ground, it’s imperative to just start now! It’s important to plan and strategize, but that’s all worthless if you never actually get started. So, quit the excuses and start taking it seriously and get cracking at it. If you don’t, you’ll probably end up looking back at things with regret – wishing you had begun sooner.
Everyone Is Afraid To Start Sometimes
I understand how intimidating it can be to start a new project – whether it’s investing or creating another source of income. We’ve probably all suffered from procrastination at some point. However, it’s in your best interest to kick that fear to the side and get started now. It’s scary, yes, but it’s better to try and fail than it is to do absolutely nothing! If you hold back now, you’ll end up regretting it later.
Failure To Launch
Letting your fear override you is one of several things that can contribute to your failure to launch. Again, failure to launch is worse than trying and failing. You’re likely to get something out of trying, even if it’s just a learning experience. The potential payout is undeniable though. For example, let’s take investing. If you keep putting it off and try to formulate the best strategy, you could miss out on tons of growth that you would’ve had if you just dove into it with index funds and ETFs and learned with experience and time.
Forcing Yourself To Begin Your Projects
Whatever the thing is that made you click on this article, when you should be getting a start on it at the moment, you need to just force yourself to do it. Set some specific, concrete goals. When you have those down, set a hard deadline and push yourself to meet it without fail. Sometimes it is better to just dive in so that you don’t find an excuse to delay further.
Staying Consistent Is Just As Important As Starting
Of course, once you start it is equally important to stay consistent. For investing, you need to schedule routine investments – probably every month – so you can keep seeing real and observable growth. If you’re trying to create another source of income, then you need to push through the first month, review what you did wrong and right your course, then keep at it for at least 5 more months. Many side hustles need 6 months or longer to show real progress, so you need to be consistently working towards it during that time!
Use Hurdles To Learn
Hurdles you face don’t have to be the end of the world. Some you can overcome, and others may lead to some failure. Failure in an of itself isn’t something to be afraid of. Yes, it sucks. It’s unpleasant. Nobody wants to fail, after all. With that said, I want you to keep that in mind with your projects as well. If the only downside of starting is that you’ll have failed and gotten a wounded ego – well, that’s not a good reason to bail on at least giving it a go.
Imagine Where You Were And Where You Want To Be
You obviously don’t need to start a project just to start something. However, assess your goals and determine what you need to begin in order to bring yourself closer to them. Figure out what the potential repercussions are, as well as the potential upside. Then, try to give an estimate of what will happen if you don’t take on certain projects, as well as how likely they are to backfire (if you can make any educated guess). Then, with all the information you’re able to pool about it, make a decision. Is it worth it? Is it not worth it?
All I can say is that I personally try to live life without regrets – so if it’s something you’ll say “what if” about for years, you might want to take it on. Alternatively, if it is something that doesn’t make you happy or bring you closer to your goals, then you might want to leave it alone.
You’re Not In This Alone
Other people have gone through the same things you have. When you’re struggling, and completely unsure how you should handle a situation, it pays to seek out advice and to listen to others. Now, I’m not saying you need to follow their advice, but it’s important to listen. They may have wisdom that can help you with your risk assessment and finding ways to tackle a task or goal, which may impact some of your approaches.
Seek Help And Engage In A Community
Sometimes you just need someone to be there. Someone you can talk to. It’s even better if you have a group of people you can talk to and open up with! It’s okay to lean on one another sometimes, and it’s perfectly normal. After all, we’re just human. None of us is perfect, and we all fall on hard times.
So, make sure you find a community that will support you during those hard times. It’s of no help to you if you’re abandoned as soon as you need help. Unfortunately, a lot of people like to take help, but don’t want to be there for you when you need it. Making sure the community you put yourself in is a good one is just as important as making the effort to join a good community to begin with.
Conclusion
You’re still reading? What are you waiting for? Go start your projects now – get closer to your goals today! There is nothing holding you back, it’s certainly within your power to get closer to them and make it happen.
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