Pennsylvania Investment Observer

Goal Setting

by Judy Loy

We all have dreams for our future that we wonder whether we will ever achieve. At a seminar, I heard an interesting saying, "Goals are dreams with a date affixed." How do we reach our goals and dreams? How do certain people stay focused on their goals with unyielding certainty that they will reach them? As Earl Nightingale said, "Your problem is to bridge the gap between where you are now and the goals you intend to reach."

The goals and dreams that I deal with on a day to day basis are connected with people's financial future. Yet, a person's financial goals are dependent on their other life goals. For instance, if your goal is to own a home, then you need to plan your finances to reach that dream. If you want to travel in retirement or take long vacations every year, you need to budget your finances to save for those goals. Too often, we look at the immediate future rather than at what we really want over the long haul. If you want your child to go to college on your dollar, wouldn't it be easier to plan and budget when they are young (taking advantage of long-term growth potential) rather than trying to pay out of pocket when the time comes?

How do we set our goals and manage to achieve them?

One way to achieve goals is to motivate yourself by using your own values and dreams. Contemplate what you want from the seven main areas of your life, your family life, spiritual life, work life, social life, health life, education life, and financial life. Write down and solidify the most important things you wish to accomplish and set a timeline to do so. Make sure the goals are achievable in the time frame. For instance, becoming a millionaire in five months if you only have $2,000 saved is not achievable. (Unless winning the lottery is in your future. I wouldn't count on it.) Yet, becoming a millionaire by systematically saving a large portion of your income on a monthly basis in an investment earning a good rate of return over a twenty year period may be doable. Losing 70 lbs in one month is not advisable and doesn't sound healthy, but losing 70 lbs in two years is achievable.

Once you have your dreams moved to goals, show them to people. Make them real by sharing what you want to achieve. Put down on paper what activities you need to do to reach that goal. For instance, to lose weight, you can exercise for an hour every other day and limit calories to 2,000 a day. To save money for a house, you choose an investment and automatically deposit money monthly. To reach goals, you need a consistent set of practices and a dream to motivate you into the action.

Many things get in the way of our achieving goals.

One of the things that get in the way of success is called 'head trash.' We get these from our upbringing and usually our parents. For instance, parents may have instilled in you that you always need to finish your plate of food. With huge portions at restaurants and overeating in vogue, this may lead to the mindset in adulthood that you need to finish everything on your plate. Yet, if you want to lose weight, this is a recipe for disaster. In failing to meet other goals, we may fear success or fear failure. Whatever conversation is playing in your head, it is important to become aware of how it affects your life. You may have a long held belief that is false and is getting in the way of what you want to achieve. Find a belief that is holding you back and ask yourself, "What would I do if it wasn't true?" Did you ever meet a person that believed everything bad happened to them? Did you ever notice how bad things seemed to happen to that person? We tend to fulfill our own prophecies to make ourselves right. Wouldn't you rather change your idea of what you can accomplish and of who you are and become successful?

All of us have dreams. It's whether we are willing to take the actions needed and stay motivated by our desires to reach those goals. As Thomas Edison said, "When I have finally decided that a result is worth getting, I go ahead on it and make trial after trial until it comes."

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