Can I push your HOT button?

For you to achieve any goal your motivation needs to be high – you have to really, really want it.  One way to make you really, really want it is to find someone to push your HOT button.  Maybe I can do that for you today.  (This is about goals people, not sex!)

 

Think of an Olympic athlete training for an event, say a single scull rower.  The athletes training for this event will develop a training plan that requires them to get out of bed when it is dark and cold, launch onto the lake or river no matter what the water temperature is, and row in a disciplined manner for two hours or more.  If it’s raining, they still go training.  If they have to improve their times they will make sacrifices to train harder.  Why is this?

 

They have a clear picture in their mind of what it will look like to achieve the goal of a gold medal – for why else do they train?  They are competing to win the prize, and they will do as much as they possibly can to win the prize they seek.

 

Now, I don’t know about you, but I am not an Olympic athlete.  But to achieve my goals I must learn the discipline of a successful athlete so that I can work hard towards my goals.  And you must be the same.

 

I make this point before we get into the really interesting stuff because I know that most people fail not because of their physical abilities, but because of their ability to manage their mind.  In essence, many people give up because of the mental strain, the toll it takes on them, and the pressure that they have not yet learned how to handle.  I can think of many instances where someone has given up just short of the finish line.
Why – because their mind gave up.

 

Now I’ve had my share of failures and I know what it feels like to miss out on a goal after working as hard as I could.  So I know that it’s not always easy.  But I can tell you that only definition of failure in my view is “not to try”.  Because if you try and are not successful the first time, you can always try again.

 

So the first important step in achieving any goal is gaining clarity on why the goal is important.  To help you with this I’m going to ask five powerful questions for you to ponder.  Think hard and long about your responses, for I have found that the deeper my thinking goes in answering questions the more truth and power I find in the answers.

 

Question No. 1:

What does this goal mean to you in terms of PERSONAL FULFILLMENT?

Question No. 2:

Why is this important to you?  Think of three reasons and identify the strongest.

Question No. 3:

What does this goal mean to you in terms of LIFESTYLE?

Question No. 4:

Why is this important to you?  Think of three reasons and identify the strongest.

Question No. 5:

What is the key motivator for you to achieve your goal?  Consider the answers you gave to questions 2 and 4 and identify the one that pushes your buttons the most – this is the key for you.

Now, hopefully, I have helped you to find you HOT button.  It’s actually up to you to do something with it now.

All the best for achieving your goals.

This post is an adaptation for an upcoming book titled ‘Smash Your Mortgage’, watch out for it soon on www.philstrong.com, launching soon.

 

Distract yourself from the horror of petrol price rises

If you followed the NZ Government’s 2008 Budget you may have been as disappointed as I was.  What an anti-climax!  Everyone I’ve spoken to has forgotten any benefits there were already as they have been side-swiped by the horror of petrol prices finally smashing the $2.00 per litre barrier.  How can you distract yourself from this shock?

To save yourself from financial hardship you can vote with your feet, (literally) as you boycott petrol companies by walking everywhere.  Think of the time and finger-nails saved by not having to scrape ice of your windscreen in the morning, and the vitality you’ll feel with the fresh, crisp air filling your lungs as you stride to work.  Think of the joy you’ll have taking the children to school, singing together as you skip through the fog.

We are all aware of the lack of provision the recent Budget has promised us, so you can take heart by considering the savings you can make in other areas by boycotting the petrol companies.

By walking you’ll avoid the depressing news items you hear on the car radio which will no longer distract you from your work.  Instead of sitting at your desk for 8 hours a day totally immersed in your solutions to the world’s problems, you’ll be able to focus 100% on the tasks you’re paid to complete.  The freedom you’ll experience by not carrying the burdens of the world each day will allow you to enjoy your job and your life.

There will be no more queues waiting to pay for your petrol, as you don’t need any.  You will save hundreds of dollars by not buying the coffee, chocolate bars and cheap jandals that often tempt you in the petrol store.  You will no longer lie awake at night perplexed by the transformation your petrol station has undertaken to morph into your corner grocery store.  Finally sleep will come as you are released from these taxing sessions of mental gymnastics in the middle of the night.

You can also distract yourself by focussing fully on saving more money at the supermarket.  You will be limited in your shopping capacity by the size of the basket on your bike, or the size of your shopping trundler.  The small amount of space you now have for groceries pales in comparison to the size of your car bootspace, and you no longer feel like you need to fill that huge cavity.  Thank heavens you’ll have no room for cheese, think of the savings! 

And finally, you can turn your garage into an extra bedroom as you’ve been able to give your car away.  Who would pay to buy a gas guzzler anyway?  That extra bedroom space you have can now be rented out to the neighbour’s kids as a practice room for their heavy metal band.  Oh how you’ll enjoy the sweet sound of music ringing in your ears morning, noon, and night.

Ok, so maybe you don’t want to give away the car and walk everywhere.  But here’s my key point:  Let’s not get distracted by the things we can’t control and focus on the things we can.  Here are five ideas:

Make some different choices to make your dollars go further
I was amazed the other day at how many budget brands had appeared in our shopping trolley.  Kathy had a real focus on saving money on the groceries and had made some different choices.  None of the family have really noticed and it meant that the shopping budget went further.  So what different choices can you make in the areas of groceries, banking, clothing, schooling, and lifestyle choices?

Make a commitment to spend a limited amount on petrol every week
Petrol is the real killer at the moment and you have no control over the price at the pump, but you do have control over how often you have to return to the pump.  So try setting yourself a limit on how far you go during the week, after all, this is how a budget is supposed to work!  I’m sure you’ll come up with creative ways to get places… or imagine how much more you can achieve around the home by deciding not to go out?!!

Discover new hobbies that don’t cost money
Apparently if you try hard enough you can find hobbies you enjoy that don’t cost a cent!  I say “apparently” because I haven’t discovered any for me yet – I am looking though.  Suggestions include; learning a musical instrument, (get lessons from a friend instead of paying for them), try finding the enjoyment in exercise, (if you walk with friends you can learn to communicate by talking instead of texting!), or you could try an online hobby (maybe you’re the next online poker champion?)

Start a crash diet… on spending
Go through your bank statements and credit card statements and find a weakness that you need to eliminate from your spending.  We all have weaknesses, mine is great coffee.  If you can identify something that is literally stealing money from you and you are prepared to go on a crash diet then this is the time to break that habit.  Do it “cold turkey” and cut out all spending on that area.  Be tough on yourself!

Use the power of goals to find your success
For me, I refuse to accept that less money in my life means I have to achieve less.  Why should you be any different?  This is the time that we all need to dig in deep and find the real person inside every one of us; we need to be motivated to do whatever it takes to find our personal success.  And the way for you to do that is harness the power of financial goals.  As I always say, “Financial goals are how you can get ahead no matter what your 1ncome level.”  And today I’ll add, “And no matter how much petrol costs!”

So to all of us, including me, I say:

Come on everybody, isn’t life great?  Let’s not get distracted by the things we can’t control and focus on the things we can.

Check out more articles here www.wisemoney.co.nz

 

How much will your house be worth tomorrow?

Today I’m not planning to gaze into a crystal ball and predict wildly wealthy times in property.  But I can show you how the current market is giving me a strong indication of where it is heading.  This should help you to answer the question; “how much will my house be worth in the future?”

 

Being active in the real estate market at the moment is similar to riding a bull in a rodeo.  While this is something I have never personally done, watching it several times leaves me with the impression it’s a rough ride and particularly tough on the backside!  It’s the same with property at the moment – it’s a rough ride and very tough to endure.

 

You may be struggling to make the link between real estate and a hyper-active 1000 pound bull.  The comparison between the bull and the real estate market is that the feedback is instant.  If you were trying to ride a bucking bull in a rodeo you would make very quick decisions on what action to take based on what was happening at that moment.  Property is the same; your action should be based on what is currently happening.  And with both the bull and the property market, the current circumstances will show you what is about to happen.  Therefore, feedback leads to future direction.

 

So what’s happening in the Hamilton property market at the moment?  Believe it or not, buyers are buying and sellers are selling!  I have been tracking the local results and comparing them to the past 15 years of results and the trends of the past can certainly add to our view of the future.

 

In January 1992 the reported median sale price in Hamilton was $104,000.  For the next 6 years the median sale price rose steadily, reaching $165,000 in December 1997.  For the next 5 years the median sale price in Hamilton levelled, and did not increase at all.  And then the frenzy started, prices rose from $165,250 to $337,500 between January 2003 and December 2007.  This five year period saw a massive 100% gain in values.  And since January 2008 we have seen the median sale price in Hamilton level again, remaining around $340,000.

 

So the question is:  will this trend remain for the next 5 years?  The answer is: probably!

 

Don’t be tricked into thinking that this means the market is dead.  Let’s have a look at sales volumes during the same time.  During the first period of growth, between 1992 and 1997, the average annual sales volume was 3329.  Then, during the static period in growth between 1998 and 2002 the average annual sales volume decreased to 2677.  Obviously the frenzied growth we saw between 2003 and 2007 was a result of frenzied buying activity; the average annual sales were 4036 during this time.  And the next five years?  Well, my guess is that we’ll see sales volumes return to between 2500 and 3000 per annum.  That’s still a lot of buyers and sellers reaching agreement.

 

So how much will your house be worth tomorrow?  You can now make some strong assumptions based on the facts above.  Or maybe you’d prefer to go and find a hyper-active bull to ride!

 

If you would rather see these statistics in picture form, please phone me at the office and I’ll email you the graphs.

Hello world!

Gidday everybody, this is my first entry on my blog.  I won’t make this one long.  But watch out for others….