Thursday, January 16, 2014

Stop setting goals


What happens to you when you hear the word “goal?” For some, it generates excitement. Others, however, shut down. Everyone has a philosophy on goals; what is yours?

After reading a recent blog post titled “Stop Setting Goals” by Gene Hamilton, I started thinking about my own philosophy on goals. In a nutshell, Gene recounts his desire to become a top mountain biker, but when he finally accomplishes his goal, he feels empty rather than fulfilled. Why? Because he focused so hard on pursuing his dream that he ended up neglecting (and losing) a great girlfriend, friends, family and a home. Years later, he decided to take a another stab at being a top mountain biker, but this time - while his ultimate goal hadn’t changed -  he focused on experiencing success daily by acknowledging small milestones along the way and trusting that they would lead to his ultimate goal. For Gene the small milestones included interval training, hill climbs, and distance days, at the end of each them he would celebrate his accomplishment. What happened the second time around? Sure enough, Gene enjoyed accomplishing both his smaller goals and the big one of being a top-ranked mountain biker. 

How can this lesson help us on our journey toward financial success? Maybe an example might help. Let's say that your goal is to have a million dollars, but you have not yet started working on getting there. You can break down this goal into many, many small parts that can be celebrated along the way (just like Gene). Step one might look like opening a savings account, step two set up an automatic payment of $10 a week to that account, step three read a book about investing, step four to be determined…Once you figure out what the big goal is and break it down into the smaller pieces, forget about the larger picture and just focus on living out the smaller, timelier successes. The big goal will then naturally follow the regular attainment of the smaller goals. 


Feel free to give me a call to talk more at 980-275-1627.

Ed Coambs


Edited by Reena Arora of Arora Media, connect on Facebook
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