How to PASS
Posted by Gail | Filed under Goals
The Globe and Mail is doing its annual best of the money blogs survey and you can go vote for the one at the top of your list for personal finance and investing. This site has been nominated this year and I’m happy to have you vote for me! More importantly, you may come across a blog you weren’t familiar with and a whole new world may open up to you. Click here to vote now.
There are loads of books focused on how to be successful. From investing to debt repayment, from setting goals to improving your earning power, advice is everywhere. But even after reading a good blog or a good book or hearing an inspiring story, it’s sometimes hard to stay focused. So today I bring you a simple acronym that may help you do just that: PASS.
Whether you’re determined to learn to live on less, make more money to get to debt free forever, you can succeed – you can pass – if you do the following:
Plan. Yup, that’s the “P” in PASS. You can’t do anything without a plan. I liken trying to get anything accomplished without a solid plan to driving down the road blindfolded. You’re gonna end up in a ditch.
Begin by clearly defining what it is you want to achieve. How will you measure your progress? If what you want isn’t quantifiable, how will you know that you achieved it? And if it doesn’t have a timeframe attached, it’s just a dream, not a plan. You have to be very specific about what you want: I want to pay off my $1200 credit card by Christmas this year. I want to have the money to pay for my $3200 honeymoon before I get married next June. Quantifiable goals can be achieved. Fuzzy goals, not so much.
Make sure your plan is realistic. Wanting to have $40,000 saved for a downpayment on a home in three years when you make only minimum wage may not be doable if you don’t change other things in your life like your job. And be flexible. There is no rule that says that plans can’t change. If your priorities or circumstances change, so should your plan.
Act. That’s the “A” in PASS. The best-laid plans won’t make a bit of difference if you don’t DO something. Some people spend so much time putting their plan together they have no energy left to execute the plan. Or is it that they’re so afraid of failing that they let themselves get stuck in the planning stage? Let’s take a chick I’ve worked with, we’ll call her Sally, as an example. Sally has wanted to go into business for herself for as long as I’ve known her. She’s got talent. She’s got a vision. And she’s spent the last five years working on the plan. What Sally doesn’t have is the chutzpah to act. She’s petrified. She acts all tough and thoughtful. But she’s stuck. She can’t move forward.
Once you’ve got the plan in place, you have to have enough faith in yourself that you can do it. You must believe in yourself. If you’re shaky, it’s time to bring some mantras online to put your most positive spin on the subject at hand. I’m a big believer in the fact that people can do just about anything they really want to do. There are lots of folks who say they want one thing and then act against their own best interest. I’m not talking about those kids. I’m talking about the people who have clearly defined what they want and have the nuts to make it happen.
Sometimes it takes a lot of Stick-to-it-ness to get from here to there. That’s the first “S” in PASS. If you don’t have the gumption to go the distance, then you won’t. Stick-to-it-ness is what separates the men from the boys. It’s the ingredient most lacking when it comes to seeing a plan through to fruition.
People with stick-to-it-ness don’t give up. When things look bleak, they look at their plan to see if there’s a problem there. Or they change their timeline. Or they look for more resources to help them. But they keep on truckin’. And even when the first plan doesn’t work, people with stick-to-it-ness know that the lessons they are learning are going to help them succeed with Plan B.
Ulimately, it’s all about Success. Yup, that’s the final “S” in PASS. So the whole thing ends up looking like this:
Plan + Action + Stick-to-it-ness = Success
Your turn: Is there something you’ve always wanted to do that you just haven’t made happen yet? Com’on, fess up!
May 20, 2010 at 8:00 am
Absolutely, and I think I’m going to finally do it. My husband has been promoted, which involves a move for our family. And in searching for a job for me, I say an ad for a job that I’ve always wanted in the back of my mind, but never took steps towards it because it would mean a lot of faith on my part and my husband’s part. We have three children, and need two incomes to fulfill all that we do, but as we’ve talked about the move and start to prepare for it, I think it’s time for me to take this opportunity and run with it. The worst thing that can happen is I’ll find out it’s not for me and I’ll look for another job; the best thing is that I love it and it grows with me and my family.
Thanks for everything Gail – you’ve helped me more than you know.
May 20, 2010 at 8:56 am
1st – congrats on the nomination!! Good luck!
PASS – love it!!! I can remember that one. It’s simply and to the point.
I have a few plans in mind that I need to PASS – especially my mutual funds exam. Time to make a good plan, act, stick with it and succeed!
May 20, 2010 at 9:26 am
I love the idea of PASS. Getting to Debt free took a lot of planning and a bunch of acting. we had to stick to it and now we are successful because of working the plan we created.
Nice Idea.
Regards,
Jason
May 20, 2010 at 9:27 am
I Voted for you Gail!!!!!
Love PASS – keeps me on my toes
THANKS
May 20, 2010 at 9:47 am
Love it, just love it!!
PASS: simple to remember, its a keeper for me!
One of my happiest decision: going back to work in September for 3 days a week and making the budget work. Yippee!!
Lots of things I could apply it to: paying of my CC (800$), starting to promote and sell my jewelry, saving up 500$ to write up my testament.
The key of this PASS for me: setting a timeframe! This is what I will be working on for the next few days.
May 20, 2010 at 9:51 am
Great acronym-I may “borrow” it sometime
I would agree wholeheartedly about Stick-to-it-ness. I always saw that as the biggest factor in success (my own and others). It’s easy to start things-you get an idea, you get excited, you dive in, but then the drudgery comes along and it’s way more fun to start something else than trudge through and get to the end.
May 20, 2010 at 10:30 am
What a great post. Like Lauren, I’m faced with a difficult decision right now. I’ve been looking for a job since January (working 2 other jobs since so that we have enough money) and recently found a job 2.5 hours away. This is my dream job. But it’s only a 0.6 (3 days a week) and it’s only until dec (although the lady is trying to convince me that it’ll get extended). It’s the perfect time in our lives to pick up and move because hubby is taking classes by correspondance and also looking for work and there’s no mortgage, no kids. But it’s only part-time until dec. If I commute, we need to buy a new car that’ll be able to make it (I have about $8,600 saved up in different pots that I could put towards that, and our current car could sell for at least $4,000 but we’ll have to finance the rest – we’re finally consumer debt free so I don’t like the idea), but I’m not sure it’s secure enough for me to move (esp cuz I have a good weekend job here). So now i need to make a PLAN (write out the pros and the cons of both sides and make a decision on how to make it work) and then I need to ACT (if I take the job, the job itself takes a lot of guts. If I’m moving or commuting for this job, I better get the best experience I possibly can out of it!). Hopefully that will equal success.
May 20, 2010 at 10:44 am
Here, Here,
Great acronym and easy to remember. Thanks!
May 20, 2010 at 11:24 am
Gail,
this is a bit off topic, but my husband and I have been faithful to the envelope/jar plan of yours. Then a girlfriend introduced me to this “mvelope” program (http://crown.mvelopes.com/). Have you seen it? Could you review it for us? I’d love to get your input.
Thanks!
Robin J
May 20, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I just voted and so far Gail is in the lead! Of course she is accessible and understandable to everyone.
May 20, 2010 at 1:03 pm
You name it, I’ve half done it.
1. 3 chapters written for a book
2. Outline and character sketches written for a 2nd
3. 1.5 years finished of legal assitant college certificate
4. .5 years finished of grade 13 (which they got rid of anyways)
5. Any number of craft projects on the go
I could go on and on — I’m not sure what holds me back. I think the word Lazy and Success don’t go together, and I fear I am more interested in reading a book, than writing one.
I’ve got one – GAIL
Goals, write em up, time lines and all.
Act on them, don’t let timelines pass
Invest some time & energy in yourself
London wasn’t built in a day, but they weren’t sitting on their butts watching the world pass by either.
I think I like that better, because when I hear that name, I think of a gale force wind that sweeps into people’s lives (like TDDUP) and shake, rattle and roll everyone into shape.
So when I’ve been sitting on the couch for longer then 1/2 hour tonight, hopefully I hear Gail’s voice in my head “get off your ars* and go do something!”
May 21, 2010 at 2:58 am
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May 21, 2010 at 9:45 am
Best of luck with your decisions Mimi. I hope you find what you are looking for.
May 22, 2010 at 3:26 pm
[...] How to PASS [...]
May 22, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I would really like to do some higher education and study to be a counsellor but I hold me back, if i’m smart enough, what happens if I fail and end up with heaps of debt and no qualifications, those are my thoughts