Goals: Not Just for the First Two Weeks of January

We’ve all made goals that we didn’t keep. We usually call them New-Year’s resolutions and they are often forgotten by January 15^th. Well, maybe you haven’t forgotten your goals, but I know that I have forgotten many of mine. One of my goals from a couple of years ago was to be more positive. However, it was real tough to be positive when I was driving through 4 inches of snow on my way to work on January 15^th.  I also wanted to be nicer to my kids. Again, this … can … be … difficult … sometimes.

These types of goals are especially difficult to keep, not because my kids are awful, or because I am such a negative person, but because these are really crappy goals. At least they were how I set them up.

December 23^rd
Me: “I should really be more positive this year.”
My Wife: “How will you do that?”
Me (ignoring her question): “I’ll make it my goal for the upcoming year. Oh, and I will be nicer to the kids too.
My Wife: “MmmHmm.”
and scene…

No follow up. No writing the goals on paper. No SMARTness ofthe goals.

Thinking back, I could have taken these terrible goals and made them much better. I could have put a sticky note on my desk so at least Iwould be reminded of them every once in a while. I could have made a littlesign that says BE POSITIVE and put this up in my office. I could have set these goals as a “to do” item in my calendar.

I could have thought about these goals more often than once in my life.

I think that I am better at making goals now. For instance, I made a goal to exercise 4 times per week. After multiplying this by 52 weeksin the year, I know that I have to exercise 208 times during the year, or a bitmore than 17 times per month. Knowing this, I made sure that I exercised atleast 17 times in January and then I tracked my progress toward my goal each month. It was easy to see if I was ahead or behind pace and then I couldadjust my workouts accordingly.

I know that I might not hit every single goal that I set, but I also know that I will make more progress on these goals if I track them monthly.

Here are a few of my thoughts on setting goals: 

1. Write them down and put them in a place where they are seen often. If I forgot about the goal, I have little to no chance of meeting it.
2. Try to make them measurable. Then take the time each month, week, or even every day to track your progress towards your goals. I am pretty lame…so I use a spreadsheet to do this. Keep in mind that we have been doing this since we were 2 years old when our parents put a sticker chart on the wall to mark our progress going potty!
3. Make some goals easy and some goals difficult. Exercising 4 times per week is pretty easy for me because I like to work out, but I also made a goal of walking 100 meters on my hands. Hmmm … I am still not sure how I am going to accomplish that one.
4. Set goals in a variety of categories. I try to set 12-15 TOTAL goals in Marriage, Family, Fitness, Faith, Intellectual, Money, and Business.  Obviously, these categories will change based on YOUR priorities and your categories will probably not be the same as mine.
5. Make sure that annual goals line up with life goals and priorities. If I want to be a published author, but I don’t set a writing goal, then I probably won’t become a published author!
6. Have fun with your goals! Celebrate them individually, with your family, or even with a wider circle of friends.

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Enjoy making a list of goals this year! Tell us one of your goals that you are making this year and what you will do to accomplish it in the comments below.

And thanks for reading!

~Nathan

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Let’s keep living a great life … with the help of money. So what’s next?

• You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
• You can get motivated and get out of debt.
• You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.

But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!