A little while ago, I posted our 5 year plan. This was our way of outlining what is important to us and to keep us focused and motivated. Well, I don’t know about you and your goals, but lately we have gotten off track. We have been all wrapped up in stuff with everyday life. You know what I mean? It really has been a time challenge more than anything and the fact that we may have bitten off more than we can chew at one time. Here is what we have come to realize:
1. Before you decide whether a single goal fits into your goals program, you should work that goal through a process that can help determine whether you should be pursuing this goal at the current time. This can take considerable time but it can save you time and frustration by eliminating goals that are not for you right now and help to identify what you need to focus on now. We did this unintentionally. By setting our goals and realizing that after a few months we couldn’t address them all at once, we have been forced to re-examine and determine what goals are realistic and that we can focus on currently.
2. Narrow in on your goal: Your goal must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Remember: Some goals must be big and some goals must be long-range. This has been true for us with our financial goals. We have the short term goal of paying off our Line of Credit by Christmas 2010 and the long term goal of saving up our $30,000 emergency fund.
A good thing to remember is that important goals must be broken down into smaller parts to ensure daily accountability. For example, if you want to save $5000 a year, you can break that down to a goal of $416 a month or $96 a week and then figure out how you will find that money in your budget.
3. Identify your benefits. Many often fail to reach their goals because they concentrate on the costs rather than the benefits. Instead of concentrating on the negatives, think of the benefits that you’re going to enjoy. As you set goals, make a list of the tangible rewards that will be yours when you reach each goal. We haven’t done this yet but we plan to sit down and write it this month. That way, each time we begin to ask ourselves whether pursuing a goal is worth the effort, we can just pull out the list and read the benefits.
4. Determine your barriers. You need to identify obstacles in order to be realistic and avoid being surprised. We realized that we had too many goals on the go and we were spreading ourselves too thin. We also realized that there are only so many hours in a week, so our goal of working out 6 days a week was not going to be possible. Careful planning in advance eliminates much of this disappointment, but remember that you can’t always see the roadblocks ahead. Commitment, attitude, responsibility, and focus on the benefits are essential to your success.
5. Stay patient. Yes I know this is hard, I have a challenge with it myself but by keeping yourself focused on the goal or big picture, you will be able to see the benefits that will come with it. Remember, challenges just make you stronger and better prepared for the next situation in life.
With that said, we are going to sit down this month and reassess our goals and come up with a more realistic and manageable plan. Hopefully we will feel less stressed and will have more success in actually reaching our goals. Once we have come up with our new list, I will post it for you all to read.
So what are you goals? Have you been getting distracted?
Miss T has written 540 articles on this blog.
Hi, I am Miss T and I am the owner and head writer of PrairieEcoThrifter. Each and every day I am working to live a money savvy, healthy, and green life. While you're here, consider signing up for the RSS feed or email subscription . Both deliver the latest articles directly to you everyday. Have a Twitter , Facebook, Reddit, Stumble Upon, or Digg account? Then follow me for all of the latest posts or to send any comments or questions.
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