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Question of the Day – Goals
By JLP | February 3, 2009
Here’s today’s Question(s) of the Day:
Do you have goals?
Are they written down?
How often do you refer back to your goals to track your progress?
I’m ashamed to say that I have gotten out of the habit of setting goals. I have always found the experience frustrating because I have a hard time trying to figure out EXACTLY what it is that I want. Everything I have read about achievement says that the number one key to success is to know exactly what it is that you want. Second to that is to have it written down along with the plans for accomplishing what you want.
I’m going to spend some time on my own personal goals. I’ll be sharing with you what I find out.
Topics: Personal Growth, Question of the Day | 9 Comments »
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:06 am
JLP –
Determining your (exact) goals is difficult. I keep 2 spiral-bound index card files (which you can find at any Walgreens): 1 for financial goals and 1 for fitness/personal goals.
Re: Finances
I use 1 card per month to write down what I’d like to accomplish that month. For example,
SAVE $50.00
PAY CREDIT CARD $100.00
ROTH IRA $200.00
etc. I typically will lay out this ‘plan’ the month before so I create a monthly goal. I don’t track my progress too much – other than putting a checkmark next to the ones I’ve completed. (And, yes, I complete them EVERY month!)
Re: Fitness/Personal
I use the same process (and, again, on a monthly basis).
I have found that achieving ‘little’ goals each month keeps things easy and attainable. I’m still achieving my ‘big’ goals for the year, but don’t have to focus on the, often times, overwhelming idea of the ‘big picture.’
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 am
yes, I have goal and refer to them every few months. I update them every year and track my progress in relation to my budget – and I have done this for 15 years – which is why I have been able to get out of debt.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 am
Timely question: I just started a website to track goals called Goal Hunter. I have goals at multiple levels. Daily goals, weekly goals, annual goals, and long term goals. You need direction: It is just keeping your eye on the prize.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:16 am
I’ve never done goals like that, particularly the “exact” part. One goal of mine, for example, was to get out of the neighborhood I was in for the sake of getting my daughter into the school I wanted her in before she entered kindergarten. I’d planted the seed in my mind and was alert and open to opportunities, and the goal was accomplished. The next one was even better, which was to get a better place and find a way to move. The place was practically handed to me, by being informed of it at my daughter’s friend’s birthday party by someone I’d never met before. I also got free packers and movers. It was a short distance move, but has worked out well as I’ve been here since 1985. Now we are hoping that we will be able to upgrade our home, perhaps buy a home, and while we have one in mind, we haven’t seen the inside of it. We don’t know if it is the right one, but love the location, trees for shade, circular driveway (which I’ve literally dreamed about for our home that I’ve not seen while awake) and the fact that it is at the top of a hill. I have the idea that if you want something exactly, it can become a case of “Be careful what you wish for”, and it closes the door to potentially better opportunities.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:33 am
I absolutely keep written goals! In my mind, it’s absolutely critical to have them written down and revisit them on at least a weekly basis.
I keep financial goals, personal goals, work goals for myself, goals for my direct reports, etc., and they’re all looked at and reviewed on a regular basis.
Last year, I made some pretty ridiculous financial goals for our family, thinking that the was almost no chance that we’d achieve them. But, after a full year of revisiting them and making sure that we were on track almost daily, we actually made them! It’s pretty amazing actually.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:53 am
I set yearly financial goals, and monthly mini-goals. I review these regularly.
But the long term stuff is much much more hazy.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:54 am
Beth,
I like your strategy.
I’m going to try something like that.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I don’t write down goals or make deadlines. For financial stuff, I simply decide I want to do something and then develop a plan (budget). At that point, it’s generally as good as done.
For personal stuff, I always have a couple of small things I’m working on. I just keep going at them until I’m happy with where they’re at and then I move on to something else. It makes pretty sustainable changes because I don’t rely on a calendar or something else to remind me. It simply becomes something I do.
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
My husband and I have a small spreadsheet with 1y, 5y and 15y savings goals – just rough “7k/y in this category, 15k by 5y from now in that” kinds of goals – plus a rough budget that will allow us to get to at least our one year goals given our current income. We check our progress (v easy given yodlee) perhaps every 3-4mo. It works well.