As we approach the end of 2018 and begin to think about what next year has in store for us, you may be setting goals for 2019. You may already be coming up with your New Year’s resolution ready to shout out at New Year’s Eve parties.
But did you know that for 25% of people, their New Year’s resolutions don’t even last one week!
Does this sound like you? Do you have some goals you would like to achieve next year or over the next few years?
Perhaps it’s to finally quit the job and retire? Perhaps it’s to help out and/or spend more time with your children/grandchildren? Go on that trip of a lifetime? Or perhaps it’s just getting your finances organised?
Without setting goals and purposely choosing the life you want, you might end up falling into a life that just happens and not really know how you got there.
Why goals usually fail
As mentioned above we are not always great at achieving our goals. We have great intentions but before we know it the year has passed and we didn’t achieve all we wanted to achieve.
The reason is usually twofold.
- The goal was too vague. It wasn’t clear what the specific outcome should be and when it would be achieved.
- We didn’t have the right plan in place.
Yes writing down your goal is a good first step but that’s not enough. You need a plan to help you achieve your goals for 2019.
5 steps to achieving your goals for 2019
#1 – Understand where you are now
- What are you happy about and what are you not happy about? Perhaps you don’t like your job and feel now is the time to retire? You need to know if it’s possible to retire.
- What needs to change? What do you need to do to be able to retire?
- This can apply to all areas of your life such as physical, mental, financial, marital, parental etc.
#2 – Document your goals
- You need to write down your goals and the reason why you want to achieve that goal.
- Make them specific targets with specific timeframes. Consider using the SMART framework.
- How will you reward yourself?
- What will it mean to achieve that goal?
- Try not to have too many goals otherwise it becomes difficult to focus.
- Try 4-5 large goals for the year and smaller goals each quarter.
#3 – Build a plan
- The goal itself is not enough you need to build in steps and actions that will help you achieve your goals.
- For example, say you wanted to retire. The specific goal could be “I want to retire on X date.” The action plan could be:
- Get up to date valuations on your my financial assets.
- Assess your current spending and what you want it to look like in retirement.
- Fill any gaps with extra savings over the next X months/years.
#4 – Review
- Once you have stated your goals and built your plan it is vital to keep reviewing it.
- Ideally it’s a good idea to look at the mini steps and action points you build each week and review your big goals at least quarterly.
- Always look back at the reason why you wanted to achieve your goal as this will help re-motivate you.
- It’s OK to change your goals as life changes.
#5 – Support
- You have a 65% more chance of achieving your goals if you tell someone about it and a 95% more chance if you meet with a person who you commit the goal to and they hold you accountable.
- For example, this could be a Financial Adviser for financial goals, a fitness trainer for exercise goals or a doctor for your health goals.
- I highly recommend taking the LifeScore Assessment from Michael Hyatt as this will help you think about your goals for 2019.
Make 2019 the year you finally start doing the things you have been putting off. Live your life with purpose and direction. I’d love to hear your goals for 2019 and perhaps we could even help make a few of them become possible. Please get in touch.
Risk warning:
Stock market linked investments and any income from them, can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Any figures quoted are for illustrative purposes and should not be taken as a forecast or guarantee. Past performance should not be seen as an indication of future returns and clients may get back less than they have invested.
