Is that a dream or a goal?
Written and accurate as at: Jan 24, 2019 Current Stats & Facts
What’s your new year’s resolutions for 2019?
The New Year is often about reflecting on life and setting new goals. Whether it’s a new job, a move to a new town or simply the inflection point that is the festive season, the scent of goal setting and resolutions is in the air.
The vast majority of New Years resolutions and goals are never achieved. The reality is that achieving most of them is hard work because it involves changing something in our lifestyle. Change is stressful at first and the natural inclination is to drop back to the old way of doing things when the going gets tough. There are two strategies to help make resolutions become reality, defining your goal and mapping out a sensible strategy to help get there.
Most goals are really just dreams. A dream is a vague idea or feeling but a goal is something that has been thought through and clarified. A dream is to take a family holiday, if you dig deeper the real goal may be create lasting family memories and a closer family unit. With this clear that general holiday may morph into a two-yearly trip to specific places with the extended family all staying in the same house. A dream is ‘to own a boat’. A goal is ‘to own a 5 berth boat that cruises at 20 knots, is kept on a marina berth and is used 10 times per year for family trips and 15 times per year for fishing’. Retiring comfortably is a dream. ‘Having enough built up to retire and provide an income for 25 years that allows a lifestyle of 3 months caravaning per year, to run and update two cars and allows for alternating a domestic holiday one year and an international holiday the next’ is a clearly defined goal. Better still, what size caravan, which cars and where to for how long on holidays. A dream is ‘to lose weight’. A goal is ‘to lose 10 kilos over the next 3 months by cutting our soft drink and gradually increasing varied exercise sessions from 1 per week to 6 per week over the first 6 weeks and then maintaining it at 4 per week once I reach my goal weight’.
Once you have defined your goal, the next step is planning out how to achieve it. Coaches and mentors can be a big help and provide accountability. If it’s weight loss, see a nutritionist and a personal trainer. If it’s anything to do with finances or lending, see a good financial planner or mortgage broker. Savings goals, whether for retirement or lifestyle purchases can be mapped out. These are long term projects so getting it right to ensure interest does some of the heavy lifting and the tax man isn’t taking too much can make a huge difference.
What’s your 2019 goals and how serious are you about achieving them?
For a free consultation with local people who understand the complexities of these or any other financial matter, contact Eclipse Financial Services at Cannonvale on 49467359 today or visit www.eclipsefs.com
