Maintaining Momentum After Achieving Big Goals

It can be tempting at times, to focus on your accomplishments, and decide that you’ve done enough.  We have been working so hard for the past decade.  After paying off our debt and moving to the forever homestead, it’s been difficult to resist the lure of celebration, relaxing, and letting go of the fire that got us here.  I mean, we did earn it!  The problem is, we have not yet reached the end of our journey.  There is still more work to be done.

The goals were very clear for us when we started on this journey: pay off debt and buy a property to be our forever homestead, and then we would later work towards financially independence.  Getting started and making drastic changes was relatively easy.  The debt was a huge, scary, discernible enemy to attack.  We adopted a “five-year prison sentence” mentality, to rationalize the sacrifice and restitution for our bad money choices.  And we paid off over $100,000 worth of credit card debt and student loans in five years.

I think unhappiness was also a large factor in my past motivation.  I felt desperate about changing our situation, which fueled my drive to build something better for our family.  Not only that, but I was angry, at my past self and the past choices.  These strong emotions helped me keep going and pushing myself, with side hustles and in finding new ways to save money.

After the debt was gone, and as we saved up for the down payment on our new house, the balance of our bank account grew.  We had tens of thousands of dollars in our bank account – more than we ever had before.  This large balance made me feel really comfortable with our financial situation.  Of course, that is now invested in our property.

Then, moving to our wonderful new home brought me so much fulfillment and happiness, and a sense of peace.  While wonderful and positive, these feelings have dulled my sense of urgency.

Our goals are also more complicated now.  Instead of pouring every extra penny we could earn into our debt, we have to prioritize and make decisions about what to do next with the property.

There have been some recent days when I found myself quite lost.  The next big goal, of financial semi-independence, seems so very far away.  I have found some renewed motivation in making definitive short-term goals for our family.  In the next few months, we need to get our old home fixed up and rented out.  Most of this work is being done by Mr. Smith, but I will be helping out with painting and drafting up the legal paperwork.  We also need to build back up our bank account for some big expenses in the coming year.  The new house needs a new roof.  We want to get started with chickens and bees in the spring, and an expanded garden and orchard.  These upcoming expenses are giving me the motivation to resume some side hustling and finding ways to cut back on our expenses.

My current, short-term goals include: one new for-sale post on Poshmark every day, resuming my side hustle as a Bar Exam Tutor, earning some gift cards on Swagbucks, and opening up my Etsy shop.

I believe that it is possible to achieve a balance between gratitude for what you have, and the drive to achieve even more.  Building on your accomplishments and creating the life of your dreams is not selfish or greedy.  We all need goals, a mission, to stay motivated to keep on climbing.  The key to finding that balance, is in the purpose of your efforts, and perspective as to how all of the pieces fit together in your beautiful, future kaleidoscope of life.