When it comes to saving effectively, there are all sorts of different tips and strategies that can be effective – in addition to a wide variety of pitfalls to avoid, in order to ensure that you don’t end up carelessly straying off track, or wasting your saved up financial assets irresponsibly.
Not all of the different pitfalls that you might face in your efforts to be financially savvy and responsible, however, are going to be immediately obvious – and, by the same token, the things that will lead to you being an effective saver will also not always appear self-evident.
In fact, if you find yourself experiencing chronic stress and confusion in your everyday life, there’s good reason to think that this can have a profoundly detrimental effect on your financial management skills – even despite the fact that, at first glance, the two things seem almost entirely unrelated.
Today, many of us find ourselves constantly struggling to make sense of confusing personal circumstances and events in our everyday lives, while lacking a clear sense of direction or consistency.
Here’s why reducing stress and confusion in your life can make you a better saver – and why it’s really worth your while (both figuratively and literally), to work on establishing clear goals, and developing effective stress management techniques.
Because knowledge is power, and misunderstandings can easily lead to financial waste
There are many areas in life where misunderstandings can easily lead to different decision-making outcomes than would be the case if you were better informed. And, in many cases, these misunderstandings can cost you money, or can cause you to miss out on good investment opportunities – among other things.
Knowledge is power, and researching topics such as The 17 Most Misunderstood Facts About Van Leasing, can have a very considerable impact on your ability to avoid financial waste and strategize effectively.
Whether there’s a particular strategy or initiative you are considering undertaking in a professional context, or whether you were wondering about the most effective and cost-efficient long-term personal fitness solution – such as whether or not to create your own home gym setup, or sign up to a local gym in your area – it’s important to have a clear sense of perspective.
Some degree of confusion and uncertainty is, of course, inevitable. No one knows everything about everything. But, if a subject has particular value or significance to you, you should try and develop as clear of an understanding and action plan as you can, concerning it.
Because we are all more impulsive when we are stressed and anxious
When you are stressed and anxious, you’re not just experiencing an unpleasant psychological sensation. In fact, your entire body is being flooded with hormones such as cortisol, your “fight or flight response” is engaged, and your perspective on the world at large is liable to shift dramatically.
In ancient times, the stress response was generally a signal that your life was in imminent danger, and that it was necessary to take rapid, radical action to set things back on track.
These days, however, it is rare to be chased down by a Saber-Toothed Tiger, or to be faced with a life or death crisis on a routine basis. When you are very stressed and anxious, it will likely have to do with things that are a lot more manageable, taken in a grand evolutionary sense.
Of course, that doesn’t alter the way that the stress response affects our decision-making abilities.
People who are stressed and anxious are far more likely to be impulsive – as the stress response conveys the subconscious sense that it’s necessary to take advantage of any opportunity that’s presented, immediately, before it disappears.
This is, of course, a recipe for poor financial decisions, impulsive spending, straying from your carefully laid plans and budget constraints, and more. Steps can be taken to reduce your stress levels; perhaps you could consider some of the products on the Serenity Store site to help bring about a sense of calm.
Taking steps to de-stress yourself and manage your anxiety levels is not only a “feel-good” practice. It’s also one of the best things you can do in order to ensure that you are a better, more efficient, and more consistent saver.
Because when you’re stressed and confused, any expense may seem hypothetically urgent or justified
In addition to the fact that we are all more impulsive when we are stressed and anxious, there is the additional problem that when you’re stressed and confused, any expense may seem hypothetically urgent or justified, without actually being so.
You might, for example, spot a potential investment opportunity and feel compelled to throw your money at it immediately, without doing your due diligence in order to ensure that it is completely above board, or that it is a wise long term decision.
Likewise, with regards to your personal budget, if you have a clear division of budgeting categories and you know what all your savings are hypothetically put aside for – then you will have a very clear idea of when it’s appropriate to dip into those savings for one expense or another.
If you haven’t created a clear budget outline, however, then the question of whether or not it’s time to dip into those savings will remain largely up in the air, and can lead to emotion-driven financial decision-making, and inconsistency.
Clearly, none of that is ideal when it comes to being an effective and responsible saver.
Because when you are able to remain calm and focused, you will be more consistent with your work and side projects
Remaining consistent with your work – not to mention your side projects and other ventures – will always require you to remain at least relatively calm and focused, so that you can meet the challenges that arise head-on, with consistency, instead of alternating between frantic bursts of action, and stress-driven burnout.
For many people who are embarking on their first entrepreneurial venture – such as getting involved in affiliate marketing, for example – it’s easy to fall into the mindset of looking for fast results, and trying to obtain those results by applying rapid-fire bursts of action, in an often-imbalanced and haphazard way.
Typically, this kind of intense approach to a side project is not sustainable and doesn’t yield good long-term results. What does yield good long-term results, however, is remaining consistent regardless of the particular external factors at play.
As the saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race.”
Clearly, to remain consistent over the long term, without burning yourself out, it’s necessary to remain calm and focused, and to avoid short-term thinking and an “instant results” approach.
Because when you are calm and focused, you will often be happier with less
When all is said and done, a lot of reckless and unnecessary spending is ultimately driven by a sense of frustration or dissatisfaction. In other words, “retail therapy” is often used as an attempt to soothe frustrations, and obtain fulfilment and contentment that might otherwise be missing.
When you are calm and focused, you will generally be happier with less, and won’t feel the need to shop your way to greater happiness, contentment, and peace of mind.
Instead, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to take a step back, take a deep breath, and enjoy the blessings that surround you in your everyday life, with a degree of attentiveness and appreciation that would likely be difficult to obtain if you were allowing yourself to be to worked up, instead.
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