I completely underestimated the power of how to set financial goals until about a year and a half ago. Since then I've changed the way I look at and set goals in all areas of my life (not just financially) and it's made a huge difference.
I wasn't much different from most people who set silly goals at the beginning of the year just to let them wither away and die 2 months later. But I made a huge commitment to myself, and my family, that goal setting would be dramatically different for me and since then it's changed my life in all areas.
In Today's Show, You'll Learn About:
- #1 Always reduce their targets. Once you get into the habit of reducing your goals you subconsciously tell yourself that you can never hit them. Instead of reducing your targets, I say increase your actions. Any target attacked with the right actions in the right amounts with persistence is attainable.β
- #2 Severely underestimate the time and effort it takes to reach their goals. These are big, important goals after all. What makes you think they'll be easy to get? I would rather see you go after a goal with 10 times the effort and be surprised as to how easy it was to achieve vs. underestimating the effort required.β
- #3 Simply donβt write goals down or review them daily. Let it be written, let it be done is not a strategy for goal setting. It takes just 5 mins a day to review your goals and it's the 1st thing you should do each and every morning when you wake up.β
- #4 Create too many goals. I love referring to this old Chinese proverb that says, βMan who chases two rabbits catches neither.β Now this is not to say that you can only have 1 goal but rather that you should narrow your focus on 1 or 2 goals in each area of your life at a time. Break them down into "mini-goals" if you have to so you can focus your energy.β
- #5 No goal balance. Shamefully I was part of this crowd for many years setting only financial/money goals and not focusing enough on personal, spiritual or family goals. And ever since I started to set balanced goals in all areas I've seen my financial goals get hit faster and faster.β
- #6 Not specific enough. Goals that are vague are never achieved. A common goal like "I want to lose weight" or "I want to make more money" is just too broad for our brains to comprehend. Choose something more specific like "I want to lose 25 lbs." or "I want to make an extra $1,000 each month". Now you've got something to work towards.β
- #7 They need to be measurable. Just as with #6, goals that are not measurable are rarely hit. Even relational goals like "More time with my kids/spouse" can be measured in the number of dates, trips to the park, movie nights, etc. Find something to track your progress and it'll help you get there so much faster.β
- #8 Never assign a due date. With no end date often times you'll find goals lingering from year to year. The constant goal that you always have but never hit. Instead, choose a specific date in the future (June 20th) to work towards.β
- #9 Failure to identify the next action sequence. Hands down one of the most important parts of goal setting. Right after writing down your goal script out the next 5-10 action steps needed to get there faster. If your goal is to make $20k trading options this year then ask yourself, "What are the next 5-10 things I need to do right now to hit this goal?"β
- #10 Rarely personally compelling. If you don't care enough about your own goals to wake up each day and go after them who will? Goals are not meant for anyone but you and therefore you've got to have a compelling reason to attack them daily. I like using the "so that I can" phrase. For example, "I want to take my wife on a date at least 2 times per month so that I can spend more one on one time with her alone."
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