Nudge yourself to riches

To nudge is to coax or gently encourage (someone) to do something positive. Nagging on the other hand is constantly harassing someone to do something. Nagging is not a very effective behavior change strategy. People generally don’t want to be harassed into doing anything. They will resist, ignore you or simply go along to please you. Nagging can seriously strain relationships as well.

Nudging is more effective as it reinforces small gradual positive improvements in the right direction. There is even a nudge theory in behavioral economics, political theory, and behavioral sciences that proposes positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions as ways to influence the behavior and decision-making of groups or individuals.

Same thing applies to money habits like working hard, saving and investing. Trying to nag yourself into saving money is likely to fail. You would rather nudge yourself gradually by saving a little at a time and gradually adjusting the amount. Reward yourself whenever you hit a financial milestone to reinforce the behavior.

I have applied this principle with the daily Money Engineer blog. The idea is to gradually recondition people’s mindsets one article at a time into a state where they can take positive actions to improve their financial well being. It has worked for some people and I am hoping it will eventually work on you as long as you keep interacting with the blog.

Repeated overtime you can nudge yourself and others into success.