Creating the Saving Habit

Posted by Maneesh Sethi :: May 6, 2008 @ 7:30 am

Do you have trouble instilling in yourself a habit that you want to make natural? For example, do you ever want to begin saving money, or prevent yourself from buying a coffee on the way to work? It's often very hard to change yourself in a significant way because of inertia. You will likely do what you've always done, because that's the way you've always done it.

However, if you want to create a habit of saving your money rather than spending it, it can be done. You just have to be willing to make the change. As I wrote in a recent article, you have to be willing to actually want the change. It's easy to think to yourself, "I would like to save more," but not so easy to actually get up and start saving money.

Once you do start, it's very easy to give up after only a few days and go back to how you used to be. Think of people who are trying to begin a diet or exercise regimen -- they are so used to being sedentary that a new lifestyle change rarely sticks.

Steve Pavlina, however, wrote an excellent article on how to make a habit stick. The article is entitled "30 Days to Success". His plan is based on the idea of inertia.

"Let’s say you want to start a new habit like an exercise program or quit a bad habit
like sucking on cancer sticks. We all know that getting started and sticking with the
new habit for a few weeks is the hard part. Once you’ve overcome inertia, it’s much
easier to keep going."

So what's his plan? Make, force, do whatever it takes to get yourself to follow the habit for 30 days. Just 30 days. Don't think to yourself that you have to save your money forever -- just 30 days. By making the mental change to accept that the change is only temporary, you are more likely to be willing to follow through.

Once you are done with 30 days, you can reassess your situation with the confidence that you've already succeeded. Now, you can extend the trial period for longer, or decide to make it a serious habit.

So if you want to quit drinking coffee before work, simply promise yourself to save and invest that extra five bucks for only 30 days. Promise yourself now. You can meet any goal you put your mind to, and financial ones are important to every aspect of your life. All it takes is a willingness to change!