Harris: May is National Recommitment Month

By Charlestien Harris

Last week, we talked about May being National Mental Health Awareness Month and how your mental health can affect your finances. This week, I want to also celebrate the month of May as National Recommitment Month. 

Making a commitment can often challenge us to evaluate important areas of our lives and refocus. Throughout our lives, we often make goals and commitments that can last a lifetime. Sometimes we get off track, and it’s helpful to step back and see how we’re doing. Whatever you decide to recommit to, whether it be health, education, family, or financial, you should be mindful of the reasons behind them. Below are some recommitment suggestions that might keep you on track, no matter what area of your life you decide to focus on.

HOW TO RECOMMIT

1. List the goals that worked. Eliminate the ones that didn’t.
   Goal setting is an essential step in the process of financial success. Often, we sit down to make a list of tasks that can determine whether or not we achieve the goals we set. Reevaluating those goals can often help us better track our progress, especially when it comes to finances. Clearly decide that the commitment is still important and worth pursuing. Elimination of goals can be hard, but you should decide early in the process which goals you are going to keep and which ones you are going to eliminate. This can help you stay on track financially when it comes to recommitting to the goals you set at the beginning of the year.
2. Simplify the goals. Remove any unnecessary obstacles.
   The simpler the goal, the easier it will be to achieve. Sometimes unexpected obstacles can hinder us from reaching those goals. Financially, setting simple goals can make it easier to recommit to the goals set, perhaps during the New Year. Recommitment could mean that you finally set up that automatic savings withdrawal you’ve been meaning to do, or maybe start saving that extra change by providing a container to hold it and placing it in a convenient place that is easily accessible to all who will contribute.
3. Work on one or two goals at a time if necessary.
   Spreading your focus too thin will most likely reduce your success and level of recommitment. Focusing on more than one or two goals at a time, depending on which ones you choose, can often overwhelm you when finances are involved. If you are going to focus on a budget, work on those steps. If you are going to work on debt, then focus on that. No matter which financial task you choose to work on, it will be easier to commit to one specific goal rather than trying to tackle all of them at once.
4. Bring in the “team.”
   This step often involves bringing in the whole family when finances are involved. Working with like-minded people helps to balance the effort and can lighten the load when tasks are delegated to other family members who are willing to recommit their resources to contribute to the financial well-being of the family as a whole. When the goal is family-oriented, the whole family benefits. Family members have a vested interest in what happens to the family finances when they get actively involved in the process and the decision-making step. Implement accountability mechanisms to stay on track, such as regular check-ins, progress tracking, or sharing your goals with others who will be affected by the decisions made concerning the finances.
5. Practice self-compassion.
   Sometimes we are all capable of stumbling, forgetting, and getting off track, so it’s helpful to realize and accept this at the beginning of our recommitment. Realizing this can help you to recommit yourself to the task at hand. Self-compassion is so important to our recommitment because it allows us to fall and get up again. Recommitting is not always an easy task because our finances can seem insurmountable at times. But as with anything else, we should allow ourselves ample time to develop a step-by-step plan to tackle those financial difficulties.

Recommitment can be a very important step to consider when working on improving your finances. May is known as National Recommitment Month, but you don’t have to wait until May to recommit yourself to making the necessary adjustments to your financial situation to have a positive effect on your finances. As suggested above, get everybody involved and watch how you can change the direction of your finances, going from negative to positive results!

For more information on this and other financial topics, you can email me at Charlestien.Harris@banksouthern.com or call me at 662-624-5776. 

Until next week – stay financially fit!

Charlestien Harris is our financial contributor, a financial expert with Southern Bancorp Community Partners whose articles are seen in a number of publications around the region.