Something you want. Something you need.
It’s ok to dream, but if you want to have what you dream about, put a measurable value on it and make a plan of action in order to get what you want.
Sounds easy right?
How Long Will It Take?
These are your goals and the timeframes below will be different based on your personal circumstances.
Short-term goals are achievable within a few days, weeks, or months
Medium-term goals take a few months to a year to achieve
Long-term goals can take years or even decades to achieve
It’s Not Only About Money
Physical Goals – 10 more push-ups, Lose 20 pounds
Financial Goals – Get out of debt, Pay the college fees, Reduce my tax bill
Career Goals – Get that corner office, Go self-employed
Family Goals – Make a bigger one, Plan a trip to see Pops
Social Goals – Join a group, Meet new friends
Mental Goals – Kick the habit, Control the anger issues, Book a few sessions
Spiritual Goals – Go to church more, be more forgiving
Who Do You Want To Become?
What you get by reaching your goals is not nearly as important as who you become by reaching them.
The principles you learn here will make you a better all-rounder and set up fundamental building blocks that will help you in every area of your life.
Find the Real Benefit
More than 100,000 drilling machines were sold in America last year.
How many of those people do you think wanted a drilling machine? Most people are scratching their heads trying to come up with a number at this point…
NONE, they wanted a hole.
It’s the same thing with money. Most people set financial goals as it’s a way of keeping score, and can be measured, managed, and tracked. But Money’s just a tool. You won’t be papering your walls with it.
In order to find the real goal we start with the core benefits. These are normally things like Feeling more secure, Feeling loved, respected, accepted,
If you’re starting out, you may want a car so you can get to work. Someone else might want a car because they only made 4 of them.
The motivation is entirely different.
What Are You Capable Of?
This is all about keeping the goals realistic. Now, this is not me trying to put limits on your big plans. But when we’re excited we tend to talk a big game.
I was in a sales meeting one day, one of my first ones. The manager was setting targets for the week. He went to the first young recruit “I’ll sell 20k this week”, next young hopeful “I’ll sell 25k”
wow says the sales manager we’re gonna have a good week.
Then he went to an old experienced sales guy in the corner with his brown suit and big mustache, looking like an old fireman, a 20-year veteran “Put me down for 10k”.
“Huh!” The young sales guys laughed, “What, the old guy lost his bottle?”
Then the sales manager ended the meeting by saying that the prize for the week would be awarded on percentage over target… and the old guy smiled.
Who Set Your Goals? – Internal or External
Another way to approach this, is, maybe you stood to lose something big if you didn’t do it. Like your doctor telling you to lose 50 pounds or you’ll die from high blood pressure.
That’s ok, you can set goals like that too, or have them set for you
not quite the same is it?
The fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain
So when your boss threatens you with the sack if you don’t hit that target you pull out all the stops to keep your job. Same principle. The difference is in how you feel when it’s done.
An externally enforced goal is normally driven by fear, when achieved you feel relieved. The ones you set yourself are driven by excitement and rewarded with pride and happiness.
Ultimately there’s not much difference, they both create action, but one is much better for your mental well-being than the other.
The goal must be big enough to create action. Whether that’s through necessity or ambition depends on the circumstances… wouldn’t it be better to create your own circumstances?
Positive or Negative Goals
Some people are better at knowing what they don’t want rather than what they do want. Maybe the first goals you set, are the things that get you out of some mess you’re in right now. Whether it’s a debt or some other commitment that is impacting negatively on your life.
Either way, the bigger the goal, the more likely you are to do something about it. If it’s not big enough, or you don’t feel like you’re really losing out if you don’t do it… you won’t bother trying so hard.
Dreaming doesn’t get things done. Being terrified generally does. If your goal is created in such a way that you can’t imagine living without it, you’ll do it.
Starting Point
The reason I talk a lot about cynicism is that everybody’s different, and at least outwardly anyway, most people aren’t honest about it. You can’t start to fix something if you don’t know how bad it is to start with.
The first part of any major problem-solving exercise, whether that’s a health check at the doctor or a Management Consultant (Troubleshooter) for your business, is to do an inventory. Take stock. A check-up from the neck up. It’s not all about money, there may be a few mental cobwebs.
WHY?
Goals should be important enough that if you’re not doing something every day to get closer to them, you are uncomfortable. Unhappy. Frustrated. Mad even… nothing great was ever achieved comfortably.
The starting point is very important.
But it’s all the same thing. We are talking about IMPROVING YOUR LIFE. Sometimes that means coming from behind, getting back on the horse. It’s ok, the same principles apply.
Every step in the right direction will be a win.
The goal must mean something to you, something big enough to get you out of your comfort zone, I will say this a lot.
It must make you DO SOMETHING.
Goal Setting Worksheet
We’ve got the builders in – Forms coming soon.
As findmycave.com is a website about making money, I guess that’s at least one of the things you’re looking for. As you work through the attached worksheets the reasons for actually doing something will start to appear. This becomes your reason why… then, depending on the scope of your big plans… as we go along we will get into the various ways of finding out HOW we can achieve the things you want.
Together…