All too soon, we have come to the final month in 2013. Over the year, our ‘money mission’ columns have tried to keep you on target with your goals; encouraging you to carry out specific objectives to further your plans, and giving you strategies to overcome obstacles that can hinder your progress.

We’ve covered diverse topics such as overcoming disappointments, earning independent income, looking for opportunities in change, and discovering your motivating force. We’ve also shown you how to focus on a priority goal, get organised, control your time and complete your tasks.

Rest, reflect and review

Although December is usually consumed with thoughts of shopping and revelry, for this month, we invite you to spend some time in reflection. Consider the financial successes that you have enjoyed, as well the money mistakes you have made. What lessons have you learned from them?

The decisions you have made during the year may have helped to advance your dreams, or they could have caused you to take backward steps. However, you can still benefit from your negative choices if you examine them to determine better ways to proceed in the future.

This is the perfect month to give thanks for your good fortune as the year draws to a close. Let’s look back at some of the money lessons you may have learned over the past months and see how even those undesired results could actually be blessings in disguise.

Time management blessings

Be thankful if you were able to take stock of your daily activities, and eliminate all the unproductive endeavours which prevented you from working on your goals. If you saw financial returns from sacrificing your leisure time to prepare your budget or research investing techniques, give thanks.

If effective time usage still remains a challenge for you, consider the benefits you may have forfeited by frittering away your most precious resource. Have those idle social media tweets or addictive video games really been worthwhile, considering the progress you could have made?

Financial organisation blessings

If the end of year finds you with a detailed budget spreadsheet, a systematic way of keeping your records and a clear plan for your savings and investments accounts, then you have good reason to be thankful. Being in charge of your money affairs will give you peace of mind about your finances.

However, if you’re still trying to cope in the midst of financial chaos, recognise how much you stand to lose by being disorganised. In these challenging economic times, can you really afford to incur late fees on your bills, pay interest for frivolous spending, or give up higher rates on your money?

Extra income blessings

If you decided to take the plunge and take action on the income-generating idea which you’ve been ignoring for years, give thanks. It’s definitely a blessing to earn extra cash from selling products and services valued by others, especially if you have been able to utilise your hidden talents.

However, if you have continued to allow fear or procrastination to prevent you from creating a new source of income, think of all the expenses you could have covered, the savings you could have built or the assets you could have gained. What’s the opportunity cost of your resistance to sell?

Money motivation blessings

You should be grateful if you finally discovered the spark that ignited the fire within you to succeed. Whether you just got tired of accepting mediocrity, got mad at your stressful financial woes, or got over a limiting mental block that kept you in shackles, give thanks for your sources of motivation.

If you are still poised on the starting blocks, unable to move ahead on your goals, then you need to take stock of your issues and examine your life. Are you satisfied with merely existing on this earth, or are you going to find a way to push yourself to accomplish the desires of your heart?

New opportunity blessings

With the New Year mere weeks away, you can be happy if your future promises to bring exciting new financial opportunities. If you have learned how to break free of your fears and limitations, and you consistently try to redefine yourself to profit from our changing environment, then give thanks!

However, if a false sense of contentment has you firmly stuck in your comfort zone, and you’ve resigned yourself to believe that your financial reality cannot be improved, then next year will simply be a predictable repetition of all the other disappointing, unfulfilled years of your life.

Instead of preparing another pointless list of resolutions for 2014, make an effort to review the thoughts and actions which have kept you from progressing this year. Go back over our past money missions, and try to implement the strategies that may help you to improve your results.

Copyright © 2013 Cherryl Hanson Simpson. No reproduction without written consent.

Originally published in The Daily Observer, December 5, 2013

DON’T MISS MY NEXT ARTICLE! CLICK BELOW TO RECEIVE IT IN YOUR EMAIL:

Cherryl is a money coach and business mentor, and founder of Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services. See more of her work at www.entrepreneursinjamaica.com and www.financiallysmart.org. Contact Cherryl