Increase Your Success Rate And Be Happier In The Process
It’s the middle of 2023, how time flies! Halfway is a good juncture to assess the likelihood of achieving our goals and objectives. If you’re honest with yourself, you probably know which goals you will achieve versus those that will not.
Most likely the goals achievable are those involving actions you enjoy or like doing, that are in line with your personality and lifestyle. The goals teetering near failure zone are those that require going against your grain.
Simply Not You
For example, you decided to lose weight at the beginning of the year and opted to go on the keto diet. Friends rave about it and you are impressed by the sensational before-and-after pictures on the internet, attesting to its effectiveness.
Keto diet is high in fat, moderate in protein with little or no carbohydrates and restricts or eliminates fruit, vegetables and sweets. If you’re someone who likes french fries, pasta, bread, love sweets, fruit and vegetables, you will have a hard time keeping to it.
Conversely, if you often miss breakfasts because your mornings are hectic and you have hearty lunches and dinners instead, then intermittent fasting may work better for you. It stipulates when rather than what to eat, requiring 15-16 hours of abstinence so the body starts to burn fat once calories are depleted. If you keep to eating between 12pm-8pm and do not snack beyond these hours, then intermittent fasting is a smooth sail for you. Voilà!
Go With Your Flow
Action plans that require giving up what you enjoy, huge sacrifices and adjustments in lifestyle set you up for failure. Even if you achieve success through sheer will power, you would be miserable in the process.
Have you ever tried swimming against the tide? It’s a struggle, requiring more effort and is exhausting. But when you swim with the current, you glide along and are buoyed all the way. That’s how action for goals should be designed – respecting your personality, lifestyle and preferences. By doing so, half the battle is won with momentum of your nature. Isn’t that easier and more fun?
So make it a point to know what you want and enjoy. If unsure, then eliminate by saying ‘No’ to filter out what you don’t want. I guarantee this will increase success rate and you’ll be happier in the process.
Mis-align
I started investing for retirement rather late and was acutely aware of my short time horizon. In an effort to make-up for lost time and spurred on by success in investment properties during the GFC, I decided to expand into stocks. Real estate and stocks/bonds are the asset classes most touted and proven to reach financial goals.
I plonked down time and money to attend stocks investment courses and online seminars, and bought many investment books. I was intent on identifying value stocks and 100-baggers which are mostly buried amongst small-caps, reading financial reports including obscure foot notes to sieve out the gems from the chaff.
This was while holding down a full-time job and adapting to a new life in Netherlands. Weekends and after-work hours were spent burying my nose in stock analyses and fine-combing annual reports. I was totally exhausted, stressed and resentful.
Be Careful What You Wish For
The ‘light bulb’ moment came when a visiting friend asked about places to visit beyond the usual touristic places in Amsterdam: Maastricht, Delft, Middelburg, Groningen, Giethoorn, Breda or Texel? Guess what, except for Delft, Rotterdam and The Hague, I had not visited any of the cities she mentioned.
That was when I realised spending hours picking stocks does not align with my personality and interests. I had let my retirement goals overshadow other joys and pleasures in life. I had wanted to maximise my Dutch experience: learn the language, explore places like the Hunnenbedden, Wadden Islands, travel to other European countries…
So I ditched stock-picking and switched to 2 simple and proven strategies – Dollar Cost Averaging and Value Averaging – investing in broad market indexes, ETFs, REITs and a handful of large-cap income stocks. I favour passive ETFs and trackers over actively-managed funds for their lower fees and long-term performance.
This would be the advice I would give my younger self and anyone unfamiliar with stock-investing. I achieve my financial goals and am happier in the process. Remember to keep it simple and straight-forward (KISS) so you can pursue other joys in life.
Road to Rome
As the saying goes: all roads lead to Rome. Some are short and tough, others longer but more scenic. Choose the route that fits you best. What’s the point of following a path others rave about but is in total contradiction to who you are, doing what you don’t enjoy? Happy and successful achievers align actions with their personality and preferences.
Retirement
Similarly, investing for retirement doesn’t have to be complicated or tedious. You need some basic financial literacy to understand the asset classes and financial instruments, the risks vs returns so you can make informed and conscious decisions. Then leave the heavy lifting to highly-trained and better qualified professionals. That’s why I am a believer in F.I.R.M rather than F.I.R.E path to retirement.
The same is also true when deciding on a 2nd home or retirement destination. Never choose a place highly rated by others or rank at the top of retirement indexes but is a poor fit for your personality and lifestyle.
If you’re an introvert, then retiring in a foreign country may not be for you at all. Moving to a lower-cost location where it’s a struggle to build friendships and integrate into the surrounding, and never having a sense of home does not make for a happy retirement.
Only you know what works for you, what aligns with your personality and preferences. Apply that to increase your success rate and be happier. And not just for achieving goals but for life in general too.
Know yourself, be yourself
Savvy Maverick
(Main image: Silas Baisch, Unsplash)
Disclaimer: The views expressed are drawn from personal experiences and do not constitute financial advice in any way whatsoever. Nothing published here constitutes an investment recommendation, nor should any data or content be relied upon for investment activities. Please seek independent and thorough research before making any financial decisions, including consulting a qualified professional. Data and information cited from sources will not be updated after publication.
