Everyone wants to achieve financial success, but distractions have become a hallmark of this generation. We forget more than we used to, feel our days passing quickly, make friends in a short time, and neglect others without realizing it. Simply put, with all these distractions, we won’t reach financial success. Let’s look at the biggest obstacles nowadays, along with some ideas to help you overcome them.
The Internet and Mobile Phones
According to a report by “Global Media Insight” in April 2022, US people spend an average of 8 hours and 11 minutes daily on the internet. Another report by “Estizada” company states Saudis spend 4 hours and 25 minutes daily on mobile internet. Since we typically don’t spend these long periods in one sitting, these averages disrupt our ability to focus on a single task and increase our energy consumption on shopping platforms, gaming, and watching videos. This makes our role passive, meaning we’re just receiving without analyzing or critically thinking.
Tip: Go to your phone settings and check the number of hours you spend on the screen daily. Then, set a goal to reduce this time by 10% over the next week.
Lack of Principles and Boundaries
To ensure you reach your financial goals, it’s essential to take decisive stances, such as not exceeding a certain spending amount, saving a specific sum monthly, or avoiding shops that don’t fit your budget. Without such rules, it becomes difficult to make the right decisions, and you’re more influenced by others who have different situations, ideas, and financial goals. These boundaries don’t just end there but also include your readiness to take on debt and under which circumstances, ensuring that credit card installments are paid on time, among other details that determine your financial success later on.
Tip: Write down 5 financial rules you’ll stick to, then identify another 3 you’d wish to start abiding by.
Media, Advertising, and Annoying Luxuries
According to the international company “Kearney,” the Saudi media sector is the largest in the region, recording a growth of 26% in the last five years. The media offers a vast window into life, its wonders, and temptations, just like its digital counterpart that sees an ever-growing number of visitors. Here, we’re talking about social media platforms where advertising is easy, especially with the global rise of influencers on these platforms. For this reason, the Saudi Media Authority launched the “Mawthooq” platform to grant licenses for advertising on social media. However, these platforms remain an incentive to spend, conflicting with saving and financial success.
Tip: Limit your TV viewing, turn off shopping app notifications on your phone, and when you see advertisements, remember that most of them offer temporary luxuries and a dent in your budget.
Cluttered Goals
The culture of multitasking is spreading and becoming popular, meaning accomplishing more than one task simultaneously or dividing your attention among several things. However, apart from the illusion of completing many tasks quickly, this culture has many drawbacks to your financial success. You assume that you’re superheroes capable of achieving much, and this in itself is a source of stress and anxiety. Not only that, when your life goals are congested, you won’t use time wisely, will stifle your ability to find solutions to the problems you face, and more importantly, will sometimes create feelings of inadequacy and despair.
Tip: List all your goals to free your mind from them, then arrange them in order of priority based on what’s most important to you, what’s more realistic, and what’s quickest to achieve.
“Financial success” is a vague concept that encompasses many standards and levels. So, don’t pressure yourselves to climb the ladder quickly; instead, enjoy each step and take the time you need to achieve it.
