010 | Goals: The Power of the Path

Having a Path: Why You Need Goals 🎯

If I asked you “How long until you get there?”, you’d probably answer me with another question “How until I get WHERE?”. Exactly! You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t first decide where it is you’re going. That’s why having goals is so important. Without a destination in mind, we tend to drift through life. Day-to-day life events lead us around occupying all of our time and energy. These events keep us from making progress on, and even sabotage, our longer-term life needs. Things we know are important, but we haven’t taken the time to define them. Things like: health and wellness, community, retirement savings, and retirement planning. 

Life goals like these are not realized in the short-term. They require us to stay on path for much longer periods of time, likely decades. Without explicitly set goals, the day-to-day events will pull us off task. My father once told me: 

“If you don’t have a plan, then you’re part of someone else’s plan.“

He’s right. For example: if I don’t have goals for retirement and a plan in place to reach those, it’s going to be REALLY easy for a car salesman to pull me off of that path with a new car and 5-years of interest & payments. It’s going to be REALLY easy for DoorDash to convince me to deliver my meals instead of cooking myself. It’s going to be REALLY easy to drive-thru Starbucks every morning and drop $10 on fancy coffee. 

But, if I have defined goals and a plan, a path, I can resist those things. That shiny new car doesn’t look so great when you realize it’ll set your financial independence date back 3+ years. That $10 coffee isn’t so appealing when you realize it maths out to $3,600 / year – money that, if invested, could buy you months of freedom. You get the idea. That is the “Power of the Path”. 

Determining Your Destination 🌎

Goals can span any length of time. They can be short-term like “I want to take a vacation this summer”, medium-term like “I want to save for my kids’ college”, or longer-term like “I want to retire at age 59”. The longer the term, the more difficult they are to determine, but, generally, the more important they are. Before we talk about setting goals, let’s talk about life goals – the big destinations in life.

To successfully set long-term life goals, requires some significant self-analysis and reflection. It requires you to answer the questions “What do you want out of life?”, “What matters most to you?”, “What does ‘a life well lived’ look like to you?”. Most people don’t know the answers to those questions. But knowing those answers is critical to setting meaningful goals. There are a number of exercises you can do to help you find those answers; I suggest you try more than one. I’ll list a couple here.

Method 1 – Write Your Eulogy

This is a great way to put your ideal life into perspective. Simply write the eulogy that you’d like given at your funeral. Write down the things you’d like the people attending your funeral to say about you. This is a great way to determine purpose and direction in life. Try writing eulogies from different perspectives, like your: coworkers, adult children, parents, and friends. 

There are a plethora of resources online about this exercise. But here are a few questions to ask yourself to help in writing your eulogy:

• How did you treat the people in your life?
• What principles or knowledge did you pass on?
• How did you impact peoples’ lives?
• What were your failures and how did you handle them?
• What were your important accomplishments in life?
• What did you admire? What did you despise?

Take this exercise seriously and spend some time on it. I think you’ll find the results enlightening and clarifying.

Method 2 – Brainstorm Your Wishlist

This is a simple exercise and can be helpful to determine shorter-term goals as well. Spend 20 – 30 minutes writing down everything you want in your lifetime. Don’t filter or limit it in any way. If you want a lake house, write that down. If you want a corvette, write it down. Don’t stop until you have about 100 items spread roughly evenly across the following categories: 

• Things you want to possess
• Things you want to do
• Things you want to be or achieve

If you’re like me, you’ll probably start off listing material things. Those are easy. But as the exercise goes on, you’re likely to find that it’s not material things that are really important. As you compile and review this list, the truly important things will begin to be clear.

Setting Your Path: Defining Goals 🥅

If you completed the above exercise, you probably have a number of goals you would like to achieve. Even if you didn’t, you likely already have some things you’d like to achieve. Let’s talk about how to define good goals. For goals to be most effective, they have 3 requirements – they need to be measurable, specific, and have a timeline. 

Requirement 1 – Measurable

This is the destination part of your goal path. It states clearly and accurately where you are going – what you are trying to accomplish. Anyone should be able to read your goal and know exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve and determine if you are there or not. Your goal should clearly state “what” and “how much”. For example, “I want to lose weight” is vague and unmeasurable. Instead write “I will lose 25 pounds”. Or instead of “I want to be rich”, write “I will acquire $1 million”. 

Requirement 2 – Specific

Both of the examples above bring up a great point – your goals need to be as specific as possible. Making goals specific clarifies what exactly you will be achieving, reducing any ambiguity. It also helps you visualize them along the journey. In our first example, “I will lose 25 pounds”. 25 pounds from what? Am I going to go on a binge gaining 10 more pounds and then lose 25? Make it specific – “I will weigh 175 pounds”.

In our second example, what does “acquire $1 million” mean? Does that include the value of your house, car, possessions? Does it include your emergency or vacation funds? Does it account for any debt? Here’s a better version: “I will acquire $1 million in my 401k retirement account and have $0 debt”. The point is to be able to look at your goal and state definitively that you have achieved it or not. Eliminate any potential gray areas.

Requirement 3 – A Timeline

The second requirement for a goal is simple – when you will complete it by. Goals that don’t have a due date tend to drift indefinitely into “I’ll get to it later”. Let’s continue with our examples from above. We made our weight loss goal measurable by stating “I will weigh 175 pounds”. Lock it in by adding “by when” as follows: “I will weigh 175 pounds by June 1st, 8am”. Our second example could become: “I will acquire $1 million in my 401k retirement account and have $0 in debt by my 59th birthday”. 

Staying on Path: Sticking to Goals 🛣️

Once you’ve embarked on your journey (e.g. you’re working towards your goals), you should mostly be on auto-pilot. But at all times, know where you’re at. Be honest with yourself. If you’re lying to yourself about your current location, you’ll never get to where you want to be. Keep your map handy, check that you’re on course, and evaluate your arrival time periodically. This will keep you from veering off path. 

Tips for Sticking to Goals

• Review your goals daily. There are lots of ways to do this. Print them and tape them on your bathroom mirror. Put a shortcut on your computer home screen. Set a daily timer to remind you. This doesn’t need to take a lot of time, just a quick review each day.
• Visualize completing your goals. The more real & vivid your visualization, the harder your mind will work behind-the-scenes to make it happen. If your goal is to own a home, picture in your mind what it looks like: the siding, windows, driveway, front door, layout, etc…
• Make some progress every day. Make it a priority to do at least one thing every day that moves you towards each of your goals. Momentum is important on your journey, don’t let yourself coast to a stop.
• Carry your most important goal in your wallet or purse. Every time you open your wallet, you’ll be reminded of your goal. 
• Show up every day even if you don’t do anything. Get to the gym even if you just turn around and leave. Go to your office to write your book, even if you just sit there and do nothing. This keeps your momentum going, builds habit, and reaffirms your identity as someone who “works out”, “writes”, whatever.
• Eliminate drag & resistance. Make it as easy as possible to make progress on your goals. Keep workout clothes in your car. Get a gym that’s on your way to work. Make a desktop link to your financial tracking tool on your home screen. 

Call to Action 🎬

Don’t let this be another article you read and forget. If you want to stop drifting, you’ve got to set a path. Today, I want you to do three things:

1. pick one of the two methods above for determining your destination (Eulogy or Wishlist) and set a timer for 15 minutes. 
2. Don’t worry about being perfect; just be honest and write down what comes to mind.
3. Choose one destination from your list and write it out as a specific goal using the three requirements (Measurable, Specific, and Timely).

You have the map; it’s time to start walking