Good Morning Dinks. As you may know from reading my daily posts, I am a huge planner. I am border-line Obsessive Compulsive about organization and order regarding everything that I do in life. It is safe to say that “adapts well to change” is definitely not on my resume.
I like having a plan, a routine, and a path to achieving my goals. I recently decided that I am no longer going to use the word “dreams” whenever I refer to all of the things that I want to accomplish in life because dreams may not come true, but we can work towards achieving our personal, financial, and professional goals.
Adam Baker from man vs. debt is famously known for doing what he loves. On a side note Adam Baker is also one of the featured bloggers who will be speaking at #FinCon12 in Denver. Adam Baker lives his life as a family man who does exactly what he wants to do in life, if he wants to travel then he travels, if he wants to start a new business venture then he puts together a new business venture. I believe that we can all learn a thing or two about achieving personal happiness and achieving our personal goals from Adam Baker at man vs. debt.
If you are currently working towards a personal, financial, or professional goals I suggest that you make a plan by following these four easy steps.
1. Take an inventory. What is it that you currently have and what is it that you want to achieve. Take a personal inventory of what you have, what you want to do, and how you plan to achieve your goals. Personal, financial, or professional goals are ultimate goals that you want to achieve; but there may also be smaller goals that you have to achieve along the way to achieving your ultimate goals. The best way to achieve a goal is know the steps you need to take in order to achieve your ultimate goal.
2. Generate Alternative Options. Not all plans work out as we hoped they would, and the key to achieving your personal, financial, and professional goals is to not freak out when things don’t go as planned. It’s ok to re-plan and reset your goals and target dates. If you aren’t where you want to be by the time that you want to be there just relax, re-plan your path, and reset your goals.
3. Make It Happen. Only you have the power to change things in your life so stop talking about making changes to your relationship, to your finances, or to your career and start doing something about it. Carpe Diem!
4. Conduct Periodic Reviews. Progress reports are infamous in the business world and they can also be very helpful in our personal lives. If you want to pay off debt then check your credit card balances and net worth on a monthly basis to make sure that you are on the path to achieving your ultimate goal of becoming debt free.
What are your personal goals right now?
Photo by pgordon
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
Hey Christina,
Excellent comments. Don’t forget…part of the process of doing good goal development is being sure that your goals are 1) measurable and 2) achievable. That is to say, you should consider framing your goal in a way so that you know whether or not you’ve achieved it. For example, if your goal is achieve a high net worth, you should add a dollar figure, e.g. $400,000 or $500,000 – that way you know if you’ve made the goal.
Similarly your goals have to be achievable. If your goal is become president of the United States and fly to Mars in your lifetime, that might be something you should reconsider unless you are very, very, very, very rich. Similarly, if your goal is to have $20,000 in passive income and you only have 5 bucks to invest, then you might consider setting a more modest goal – like $1 in passive income.
Goal setting isn’t just dreaming, there are mechanics to it also.
Best,
James
@ James – that is so true. There is no point in setting unrealistic goals. I love the feeling of accomplishing a goal…it’s a total rush!
Great insight on goal setting.
For setting and getting goals, you may want to check out a goal setting app called GoalsOnTrack, a very nicely built web app designed for tracking goals and todo lists, and supports time tracking too. It’s clear, focused, easy to navigate.
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