Keeping a long term focus

I don’t know about you, but for me keeping a long term focus is one of the hardest things that I ever have to do. And when I say ‘long term’ I am talking about only a few months, not a few years. When I think about it this seems almost laughable. For example, the Chinese culture views ‘long term’ in centuries, a ‘long term’ business plan to the Japanese is several decades. And to me a ‘long term’ plan would take me out to about Thanksgiving.

I have two examples of things that I am trying to maintain my focus on, but which seem to be very difficult for me. And in both cases, there are a couple of things that help prod me back in the right direction when I do lose focus.

The first project that I (really we) have been working on is becoming debt free. I have always dreamed about becoming wealthy, but didn’t really think it was possible without hitting the lottery. But then a few years ago I started listening to Dave Ramsey’s radio show and then read his “Total Money Makeover” book. Suddenly there was a plan available! When I finally decided to commit to Dave’s total money makeover, and the wife agreed to go along, I was energized and laser focused. Dave’s plan though relies on you following certain steps in a specific order and depending on your debt load, income and other personal commitments the road to becoming ‘debt-free’ can be a long one.

For this particular project I have several reminders that are keeping me focused. There’s Dave, who is on the radio every day. There’s my wife, who is diligently using Dave’s envelope system to slash spending. And there is my personal desire to be debt-free. Fortunately, every time I get the urge to eat out or spend money on something frivolous one of these things is there to rein me in. And the good news is … we are almost there, only a few more months and we will be debt free!

The second project is painting the exterior of my house. This is of course one of those projects that appears to be much easier than it is, especially when you are a one man crew. But it is also one of those “got to do it once in your life” projects. I started this project back in late March … here we are five months later and I am finally almost done. Admittedly, I am not the world’s fastest or best painter … but come on, five months to paint the exterior of a house!

I had many unexpected delays along the way, most of which I should have expected! I try to stay very involved with my kids’ activities, which leaves me very little free time during the daylight hours. So it turns out that I am only able to paint for 2 to 4 hours at a time. When you have to set up and clean up each time after painting this really leaves very little time for actual painting. I also forgot that we love to spend time with our great neighbors, which cuts into some of my daylight when the kids aren’t busy. And finally … there are the Florida Love Bugs! I hate these things for what they do to my car, but I never knew that they love wet paint … Ughhhh!

Regardless of all the work slowdowns there are again several things keeping me focused and thanks to them the end is very near. There is the desire to complete the job so the wife doesn’t get angry (she’s been great so far, but how long can her patience last?). There is the personal commitment that I made to not play golf until the painting was done (I theorized that any free time needed to be spent painting, not playing). And finally, the reminder that I am saving tons of money doing it myself (helping towards my debt free project) but the sooner I finish, the sooner I can fire the lawn guys and put the money we spend on them towards our budget.

It’s been tough staying focused on these projects, but having reminders about why I started the projects has kept me going. The intensity is not the same every day … but now that the end is in sight on both projects I can feel the fire inside of me. So, Tubby’s tip is: When faced with a long term project, keep reminders around to help you focus on your goal and why it’s a goal.