Long Term Goals — Achievable Dreams

LONG TERM GOALS

LONG TERM GOALS AND PRACTICAL DREAM BUILDING

Long term goals and breaking those down into shorter term goals are what make dreaming practical.  What you are going to do now is not quite as much fun as writing your story, but the likelihood of actually achieving your dreams without this step has similar odds to the necessity of Beelzebub wearing long underwear.  This step is what makes your dreams real.  This is where you can look at your dreams and believe they not only CAN but WILL be accomplished because you know you have a practical plan to achieve them.  You will have a roadmap to success.  

Now that you have a story, you are probably bouncing-off-the-walls ecstatic.  I know I was.   My first five year story was VERY detailed and included most of my lifelong dreams.  And remember, I told you I was a dreamer.  Even got notes sent home from school.  I could dream, all right, but my problem was in implementation.  When it came to actually obtaining what I desired…well, I don’t think I had ever signed up for that class.  So somebody suggested I SHOULD sign up.  I did…     And it helped so much that I would like to share some of what I learned with you. 

LONG TERM GOALS IN EVERY AREA OF LIFE

Now that you have your story written, you need to use that description of your life in five years to write as many long term goals as your story requires.  For example…Make X amount of dollars per year within five years (make sure you assign an actual date as a deadline, the date being exactly five years from now); be giving X number of dollars to my church within five years; be serving on the City Council within five years…    You get the picture.  Each of these goals will have a specific deadline of five years from now (the actual date)  and have as many details included as it takes to be crystal clear as to what the goal means. 

Create long term goals in every area of your life.  Use your story to see what your goals should be.  Your story told you what you want your life to be like in five years.  Set your long term goals accordingly. 

 

Long term goals must be approached with a plan.

No matter how big your goals, they can be reached if you have a good enough plan.

If you wrote your story with your spouse or even if you wrote separate stories and shared them, then many of your long term goals will also be joint goals and should be worked on together.   If you each have complete buy in on the direction you want to go, your likelihood of getting to your destination increases dramatically.

Joe Spano, on his 3 Notions blog, talks about the kind of motivation and confidence in where you are going that can be obtained by setting long term goals.  It can be liberating and can have a huge effect on your life. 

LONG TERM GOALS AND YOUR VALUE SYSTEM

Also use your value list while setting your goals.  What does your value list have to do with setting goals, you may ask.  Well, if you set goals that are outside of your value

Long Term Goals must be based on your values system.

Test your goals against your values and your daily decisions will be easier.

system, you will have trouble ever achieving them or being happy if you do.  You know the old saying “It’s just business.”  And that is supposed to let you do anything if it makes a profit, no matter how coldblooded or ruthless it may be.  I don’t believe that.  Business should be conducted ethically.  I doubt that anyone needs to explain to you what is right or wrong.  You just know.   You have values.  You have now actually written them down.   You need to follow them.

You may already be seeing a flaw in the total life approach to setting your goals.  If you don’t make enough money with your financial vehicle, your other goals will suffer.  That is true.  And I am going to show you how to adjust your goals based on your actual adjusted economic outlook.  But for now, just set the goals. 

MAKING LONG TERM GOALS SHORTER

After you have set all your five year goals, begin to back those down a year at a time.  You will start with your five year goals.  Then you will need to look at each goal and ask yourself where you need to be in four years in order to reach your  five year goal.  Write down each four year goal. (Make sure you have specific dates as deadlines.)  Then do three year goals.  Then two year goals.  And finally, where do you have to be in the next year  to be on

A series of short term goals will get you to your long term goals.

Achieve your long term goals one step at a time.

target for your future story? When you know this, then

you can create action plans.  You can figure out what you need to be doing this month, this week,  and  finally,  what  you need to be doing TODAY in order to reach your goals.   That can allow you to focus your efforts TODAY on activities that will help to achieve your long term goals and you will be able to minimize or eliminate activities that do not.

Once you have set your five year goals and broken them down by year as I have suggested, you should know how much money you need to make in this next year.  You have broken your five year money goal down all the way to a one year goal.  If you have an existing business, you now know how much money the business needs to make in the next year to be on target to achieve your dreams.  And after all, isn’t that why you are in business…to achieve your dreams?  If you do not have a business (and I promise we will talk about financial vehicles soon), you still know how much income you have coming in from whatever resources you have.  So now you know how much you will need from whatever financial vehicle you choose.  You may choose a vehicle that allows you to keep your job for a while,  or you may have income from your spouse’s job or other sources.  So you can subtract — your one year money goal minus your current income — to be able to figure out what you will need to add. This is the part that keeps even the biggest dreams from being pipe dreams.   If you can match the goal against the actual potential income, the dream then becomes very practical and achievable.  

BUT WHAT IF MY LONG TERM GOALS ARE REALLY SCARY?

If the numbers make sense and you are convinced that you can achieve them, you are pretty much through with the long term goals part of your dream.  But I know there is a chance you think the numbers do not make sense, do not look achievable.  That is not unusual.  Do not despair.  It is fixable.  In my next two articles, I am going to show you how to analyze your financial goal and to do a little soul searching about your own ability to see if adjustments need to be made. Then if they do, I will show you how to make any adjustments in your long term goals that are needed. 

I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Let me know about your success or lack of it in the past and what you have gotten from this blog so far to set you on a new path.  Please  leave a comment.  I would like to hear from you.  And if you leave your contact information at the top right corner of this page, I will also send you notification anytime I add a new article to  the blog.

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