Goals. Write 'em, achieve 'em.

It sounds simple. It is simple. Write down your goals. It will change your life.

In retrospect, I discovered the power of writing goals in my early 20s. Towards the end of the year, I took some time out to reflect on life, what I’d achieved so far, and then focused on what I’d like to accomplish in the future. I typed up bunch of goals and quickly forgot about the list. When I accidentally stumbled across the file on my computer couple of years later, I opened it up out of curiosity. As I skimmed over it, I was struck at how many of them I’d achieved. Wow!

Now there’s no magic here. Writing stuff doesn’t make it happen. What it does do, however, is focus your mind on each goal in a more defined way; ingraining your desires and planting seeds for future germination. Your goals will bounce around in the back of your mind, occasionally coming to the fore and setting in motion a cascade of related ideas before receding into the background again. In time, you’ll find some of these ideas manifesting themselves in actions that move you closer to achieving your goals.

It’s really that simple.

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It took many years before I realised the true power in setting, writing and revisiting goals. Now, I live a goal-oriented life. It’s transformative.

If you embark on a journey with a map, you’re likely to arrive at your destination. Leave without a map, though, and you’ll drift aimlessly. Sure, you’ll end up somewhere, but not where you want to be.

So plan. Set goals and work out what steps you’ll need to take to achieve them, then start off in the right direction, one step at a time.

 

Hi Steven
Excellent.
Another that my g/friend does is write down what you are grateful for, I suppose this is part of the power of positive thinking.

MTR

 

Though I don't do it often, it's a very powerful exercise to write down what you're grateful for, particularly at the beginning of the day. Helps keep little hiccups and challenges in context.

 

I read a courier mail article yesterday (or somewhere like that). To be uber-rich, you have to earn 686,000 per year. That sounds like a pretty good goal, no?

Not sure what you do once you get there.

Maybe not constructive to the debate, but I've never written a goal in my life.

 

Whilst I had my business I ALWAYS had a photo on the work fridge to constantly remind me of what I wanted to achieve. It was positive reinforcement and kept me focussed.
My wife and I ascertained how much passive income we would require to retire comfortably and drew up a tree diagram with each branch representing a step along the path to wealth creation. It worked a treat.

 

My trick is to continually adjust my goals. As I inch a little closer, I push my goal back a little further. Dangling the carrot keeps me continually striving for more and I enjoy the process so for me it's about the journey more than the destination.

It's worth writing your goals down. Nothing to lose but a few moments of life. Plenty to potentially gain.

I used to keep my goals in my head. Things worked out pretty well but committing them to paper (and/or computer) has been an incredible experience. I believe I'm achieving 10x as much stuff.

Not to mention, actually sitting down to write your goals can help you think about areas of your life you wouldn't have even investigated with just mental goals. The process itself provides great clarity. Well, it has for me at least.

 

It's probably different for me - my goals had been always very finite and definite.
Finish this degree
Finish this degree
Pass this exam
Finish this training
Pass this exam
Pass that exam
Finish this diploma
Get this job
Finish this training
Get this job
Drink 5 daiquiris


Guess which one I haven't ticked off, but could do so right now?

 

I'm off to get my notepad to check on things!
Writing it down makes a huge difference as it's the record of when you food it and when you will get there. Also to keep am eye on those things that your likely to let slip.
In construction and safety land it's all about planning, implementation, review, adjust them go again. (I googled a cycle to look at). Setting goals should follow a similar cycle so your constantly evaluating where your headed

 

@Steven Ryan

Great poSt!

Its simple but very effective!

 

@Steven Ryan

Based on your post I think you'll love the book I'm reading at the moment. Have you read Grant Cardone's 10x Rule?
http://amzn.com/0470627603/

The idea is that when your goals are too realistic, you will underestimate the amount of action necessary to achieve them.

The solution = set your goals 10x higher than you wish for.
Take massive action, or 10x action.

The result = over achievement of your original goals.
This would apply in your business as well as property.

It's got me thinking in much bigger terms about where I'm going

 

@DanW I hear Peter Diamandis talk about 10x-ing and others, less often. They may have read this book–thanks for making me aware.

From what I have heard on the topic, there's good evidence that in many cases that a 10x goal is simpler to attain.. because it requires innovation, fresh thinking, significant change, has great pull etc.

I have a pretty large longterm goal and it has a strong gravitational pull.

The magic of thinking big.

 

Goal Setting,
I studied teaching and when we were leaning about marking there was no mark for exceeded expectations....

 

I have a direct long term fixed goal. And yep it is written down. To keep it top of mind though, I make sure that my weekly to-do list includes tasks that somehow directly relate to achieving that big goal. If there is little or no linkage, I prioritise that goal further down the list.

 

Great post Steven.

Sunday night's are my time to get a nice cup of tea and sit back and reflect on goals. I set bigger visionary ones once a quarter or so, with smaller sub goals that align with broader visions for myself on each Sunday night. Both in a reflective sense (week before) and a proactive sense (week ahead).

Usually the most productive 90 minutes of my week and sets the tone. I find setting those visionary goals are all well and good, but without continual reflection they fall by the wayside (good old 'new years resolutions').

Cheers,
Redom

 

Very simple investing goal: Have $100k net annual cashflow from investments in 2010 dollars by the time I turn 40 (seven years to go).
The only other goal that I can think of off the top of my head is cycling 2000km this year and I've got around 700km to go.

It's funny, I agree that budgeting and mindset are very important, however I don't budget and I don't actively work on my mindset. I feel that I'm happy with how both are going, I'm very frugal and I'm a confident and analytical person.
I'm by no means saying that my budgeting or mindset are perfect and couldn't improve, but for me currently, it's just not worth the effort.

 

Great thread.

I've been writing my short and long term goals on my iPhone notes and dating them so I can review them when I have a quiet moment to myself.