If you want to get the most from your work as an investor, you need to learn how to balance short-term satisfaction with long-term rewards. Otherwise, you can end up in a downward spiral from which there is no escape. You can overcome this problem if you understand the difference between the two and why you need to be mindful of your long-term goals.

If you keep this in mind, you will be able to get more out of your investments. You will also know that you did the right thing. If you want to gain a true understanding of how this concept works, you need to take a look at both sides of the proverbial coin. Even if you don’t get results right away, learning about the balance between short-term and long-term satisfaction can bring you closer to reaching your goals. The key is to understand how your brain works and how to put together a solid plan. If you keep all these in mind, you shouldn’t have any problem moving forward as an investor.

Understand How Your Brain Works

When it comes to short-term and long-term satisfaction, you’re dealing with both the logical and emotional sides of your brain. Your emotional side wants an instant reward. And with investing, this happens when you take a path that will give you a faster payout. The logical side of your brain wants you to wait longer for a bigger reward. Most people only look at their short-term goals, but you need to train yourself to look at the benefits of sacrificing “instant gratification” for a long-term reward.

Make a Plan

Many people go through life without a strong sense of direction. But if you want to become successful, you need to have a plan. Otherwise, you won’t be able to know if you’re moving forward because you don’t have a way to track your progress or even know where you are. A good plan will help you stay on track by allowing you to monitor your progress.

Think about what you want to achieve in the coming months and years. How much profit do you want to earn over the next five years? What steps do you need to take to get there? Put together an outline of a plan that will get you the best possible results, so you won’t have to worry about making things unnecessarily complicated.

You don’t want to overthink your plan in the beginning. You can always change it later on, and most people do. Look at your plan often, so you can make sure you’re on the right path toward achieving your goals. This will help you to stay motivated and will make sure you don’t forget anything along the way.

Write Down Your Goals

Writing down your goals is an important part of the planning process. Think about what you want to achieve in the coming days, months, and even years. You also want to make two lists. The first one should have all your goals for the next few weeks or months, and the second one should have all your goals for the coming years and decades.

Your long-term goals don’t have to stay the same. You could get new information or face some unexpected issues that can change your long-term goals. You could also experience something that will change your mind about what you want to achieve over the long term. The important thing is to have a good starting point, so you know where you want to go and whether you’re getting there.

Do your best to balance both your short-term and long-term goals. If you would like to make a large purchase over the next several years, putting enough money aside every month is an excellent short-term goal. If you continuously reach your short-term goals, you will have enough motivation to push yourself forward. And you will have less trouble getting the outcome you really want.

Think About Both Sides

If you want to get the most from your efforts, look at both sides of a situation. It may be tempting to go for that short-term satisfaction, but it may not be as good as what you could achieve over the long term. A lot of people get into investing to make fast money, so they look at short-term investments.

Depending on where you are and what you want to achieve, it may not be a bad choice. But you should always look at it from both sides. Think about what you could get out of going for long-term satisfaction instead of short-term gain. You might be glad you did. Waiting for that long-term reward isn’t always easy, but you could get a much larger payout if you do.

The path you take will depend on the resources you have available and your reasons for why you got into investing in the first place. In some situations, you can take and enjoy both paths. You can make several investments that pay off quickly, but you can also make at least one long-term investment that will grow in the coming years.

Start Small if You Need to

If you’re just starting to learn these concepts, it won’t be easy to set long-term goals. The way you act conditions your brain. Think about people who get up every morning at 5am. If they get a new job that no longer requires them to get up that early, they will still wake up at 5am even without an alarm. If you spend a lot of time thinking about short-term gratification, you will need to train your brain to look at the long term. Start by slowly shifting your mindset toward the long term, so you can think about what lies ahead.

Look Toward the Future

If you want to achieve the goals for which you have been hoping, it’s important to look toward the future. If you looked at where you will be several years from now, what would it look like if you didn’t work toward your long-term goals? And how would it look if you did work toward them?

Looking at the future is a great way to get you moving in the right direction. A lot of people see the future as too far away to be important, but your mindset will change once you try to imagine what it will look like. You have something to look forward to because you know you’ll get there eventually.

Reward Yourself

Working without taking any time off will cause you to burn out. Many investors will spend too much time working. And while this path may seem appealing at first, you can lose your motivation faster than you would expect. You can avoid this setback by rewarding yourself whenever you can, and it doesn’t have to be big. Spend some time doing something you like each day, and you can keep your stress level down. That way, you can maintain your motivation so you can keep moving forward.

Evaluate Your Progress

If you want to stick to your plan, you need to track your progress. And depending on the size of your portfolio, you should do this at least four times a year. Look at your plan to see if you’re on the right track toward achieving both your short-term and long-term goals. Then, look at what you can do to catch-up, so you don’t fall behind.

Evaluating your progress on a regular basis will make sure you don’t stray too far from your roadmap, but noticing that you’re not on track won’t be enough to reach your goals. If you want to avoid similar problems later on, think about why you fell off track and what you can do about it. That way, you can make the necessary changes so you can prevent the same issues from coming up down the road.

Congratulate Yourself

Every time you reach a difficult goal, congratulate yourself on a job well done. Take some time to appreciate the effort you put into it, and you will feel better about the journey. Depending on what you have achieved, reward yourself with a nice dinner or a relaxing vacation. Congratulating yourself is a great way to stay motivated, because it will remind you of how much progress you have been making.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of what you want to achieve, taking the right approach for achieving your short-term and long-term goals can take your investing to another level. And evaluating your results will make sure you’re on the right track so you don’t fall behind. Review your progress so you don’t make too many mistakes, and remember that shifting your mind won’t be easy in the beginning.

While you may have trouble at first, things will get easier as you go. Eventually, you will be able to take your investing and your profits to the next level.

If you want to know more about how you can get started as an investor, be sure to get in touch with Trevor Shakiba at Shakiba Capital.