They say fake it until you make it. But you don’t have to fake anything. You only need to know how to make something from scratch.
Well, not really scratch. First of all, you need to know your goals. Once you are clear about them, you could start planning. Filter out what’s not important or would not lead you to your goals to conserve energy and resources. Second, if these are material goals then nothing can’t be achieved with hard work and persistence. And of course, you need to have a little know-how in managing your resources.
The most basic goals of an individual are usually the basic needs of everybody. You will need a shelter above your head, food on your table, and an assurance of safety. Here we will give you a few tips on how you could achieve these and get more in the process.
Owning your dream home
If you were not born with the privilege of being an only child who would be inheriting your family home, a dream home would be part of your goals. Or even if you are inheriting your house, you might want to convert it into something of your own one day.
Real estate in quality locations nowadays is quite expensive. But above all else, a good location is what you should look for. The material of your home could be more flexible as you could change and renovate along the way. However, you could not change the location of your house. So have this as a priority. Find a place that is safe and comfortable for you and perhaps your family. Once you get an area, look into the requirements of getting a loan for your home. If your credit history is good, you should have no problems with it. If not, see if you could find a co-maker or you could find good collateral.
Are there possible shortcuts for this goal? It’s your dream home. You couldn’t settle for anything less. A sound piece of advice here is once you see the perfect location, you immediately take action on it. It doesn’t matter if you will be building your home later. Second, although it is not recommended by a lot of people, you could start building your house slowly. For example, if your dream house has several stories, you could go ahead and work on the ground floor first.
What some people miss when they do this, however, is that they don’t project the rest of the house. So there would be foundations that need to be redone or rooms that have to be torn down. Also, you need to plan out the entire construction timeline because another danger of occupying an unfinished home is that it will remain unfinished.
Stabilized finances
We all had our dream job when we were fresh out of university, idealistic, and with high hopes. Then we got to our first job, battled with difficulties, and trudged on. Probably into our third or fourth jobs, we realized one thing. There is no perfect job unless we are our own bosses. Easy to think, but could be difficult to establish. So for most people, the salaried life is already the safest choice. But what if you could afford to go beyond that kind of framework and dare to take some risks?
First and foremost you should not start any business without a proper market analysis. Many small-time entrepreneurs start with the product in mind without considering if they will have demand for it. Of course, there are some success stories from this camp, but it’s not sustainable. Unless you could expand your market easily with the product, you might be able to hold some clients for a short while before interest disappears.
So contrary to what some advisers recommend finding something that you are good at and turn it into business, you should study what the market needs. Then see what among these you can be good at. Finally, have your business insured even if it is still small. This is another thing that starting entrepreneurs miss. They believe that the risks are low and getting insurance is not worth it. But tragedies start from assumptions and complacency.
If you are not yet ready to start your own business but managed to save or acquire a decent amount of money, you always have the option to invest in bonds. It’s safe and it’s a long-term investment.
Setting goals and prioritizing our work with these as our guide make our life easier. A goal could look very impossible, but it can be broken down into smaller and practical steps. Taking these one step at a time could unload the burden and assure you that you are making progress in the right direction.
