” Don’t delude yourself about what you really must change. If you want to succeed at goal setting, face the reality of the effort and pay off BEFORE you begin. Realise that the quick fix and the easy solution may not provide the lasting fix and the meaningful solution ”    -Marshall Goldsmith

Financial freedom generally means having enough passive income to live off without having to work for the rest of your life. It’s a stage of wealth building where you can do what you want when you want it  i.e. more than just being able to fund your personal needs, its about being able to fund your ideal lifestyle.

As far as goals go, achieving financial freedom is a worthy aspiration for any adult to set his or her sights upon. However,  majority of people don’t seem to achieve this goal. Why is that?

Its mostly because of a lack of a realistic idea of the effort it takes to reach the destination i.e. being unclear about the effort required to achieve financial freedom.

Having an understanding of this effort makes the race towards the destination feasible, and allows for the necessary adjustment in attitude one requires to complete the race.

Many a times we commit to a goal, we start and give up maybe because we are focused on the cause and effect of daily life. Your goal is simply crowded out by the many distractions, tasks, and responsibilities of everyday life.  Other times you give up because you don’t have a clear idea of where you’re going and how to get there.  

 Below is a list of the effort one requires to achieve financial freedom:

1. Stay healthy
2. Identify and eliminate your limiting beliefs about money
3. Set a series of clear financial goals
4. Know your risk appetite
5. Understand various investment vehicles and asset classes before investing in them
6. Learn how to speak the language of money
7. Keep track of interest rates
8. Surround yourself with people who value money
9. Have a career you enjoy with good income opportunities
10. Know where your money goes
11. Live on less than you make
12. Avoid excess debt
13. Be aware of tax laws
14. Pay for insurance
15. Invest consistently
16. Read about success and failures of people that built wealth
17. From spender to saver: Save consistently
18. Act in a disciplined and responsible manner
19. Eliminate self-doubt
20. Get clear on demographics; their needs, spending patterns, and overall consumer behaviour
21. Automate savings
22. Get super organised
23. Establish and attain financial milestones at regular intervals
24. Network like hell
25. Work hard at your job/ side hustle

28. Take calculated risks regularly
29. You need to have a clear-cut plan for the future
30. Project your future income and expenses (Imagine at least 5 years into the future your ideal  financially free lifestyle)
31. Backward engineer your 5 year projection, to see what the 2 or 3 essential steps you should take today
32. Anticipate future income and expenses. (Think of your life in phases, up to retirement and what you will be spending on.  Consider possible future obligationS)
33. High and clear levels of motivation to be financially free
34. Create multiple streams of income
35. Save before spending
36. Automate savings
37. Reduce your expenses
38. Diversify your investments
39. Learn to say no (to people and to things)
40. Constantly educate yourself
41. Have clear life goals and stick to them
42. Track your net worth regularly: Monitor your results and make changes as necessary.
43. Evaluate your finances realistically to know where you are on the journey towards financial freedom i.e. know what stage you are in presently

44. Budget regularly: it’s a plan for where your money should go
45. Visualise being financially free all the time. Tap into the feeling of freedom ( even if just for a few seconds)
46. Be generous to others (within your allocation)
47. The habit of reviewing your performance immediately after every meeting, sales call, and presentation
48. Concentrate single-mindedly, every hour of every day, on the most valuable use of your time.
49. Plan the next day today
50. Prioritise ideas (and spending) all the time
51. Think in relationships to solve future problems
52. Realise that some months you would not stick to the plan, and that’s cool. Just find a way to make it up
53. Get a financial advisor
54. Enjoy the process of becoming financially free

   Long list right? Don’t fret. If you could boiled it all down to one thing it’s essentially that:

                         The Right mindset is the KEY to financial freedom

 By tapping into the ‘financial freedom mindset‘ on a daily basis, the way you perceive things and events around you will begin to change. As you begin to conduct and organise yourself into the kind of person who can earn more, set goals and achieve them, every facet of your life will improve and victory would surely be yours.

So what’s the payoff? Why do all this?

At the end of the day, its all about peace of mind, clarity, confidence and being able to contribute positively to the lives of others. What’s more, you would then be able to make choices based on what is RIGHT for you.  At that point in life, you wouldn’t need to just accept whatever is in front of you; it means you work because you want to,  and you work BECAUSE YOU are passionate about it.  You WILL INEVITABLY feel complete and satisfied that you are in control of your life.

Use this list to identify where you are on your journey towards financial freedom. If the assessment, requires you to reorient yourself, do so. Similarly, if you are ready to begin the journey towards financial freedom, congratulations! You’ve made a great decision, and you now have a clearer idea of what it entails.  Financial freedom takes hard work and discipline, but small steps will yield big rewards over time.