Life Plan - Day 2: Determine your Destination
Step #2: Determine your Destination!
One of the greatest causes for frustration when it comes to goals and their achievement is setting way too high goals. This happens when we fail to set what are known as SMART goals.
The acronym SMART stands for
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Relevant
T = Trackable
Now how does this relate to your goals? The best way would be to look at a hypothetical example like the following one below.
John would like to become financially free. Let’s break that down specifically using our acronym and see how it all works out. Instead of just stating that he would like to become financially free – which is very ambiguous, he needs to be more detailed and in such a way that his mind can grasp it clearly.
This process is known as crystallizing.
Specific
He should decide how specific from a financial standpoint. Looking at his current status he should first determine what would be the ideal income. Then he needs to create an income that does not require him to work for it to keep coming. That happens when one has productive assets. These assets will generate passive income. Once that income matches all of John’s expenses and has 50% or more in excess, then John can consider himself on the way to financial freedom.
So the goal would thus say… to have x amount of dollars in passive income… to cover the specific aspect.
Measurable
Here we need to specify the amount as shown above. Thus the x amount of dollars needs to be very detailed.
Attainable
Here we need to look at figures that can be reached looking at all resources available. Do not forget that this also takes into account resources like skills (existing and new ones), time, money, networks, people etc.
Bear in mind that your goal MUST be attainable in that you should not be setting wild goals that are beyond you in every way especially taking resources into consideration. A good example is to want to build an internet business when you do not have a laptop and continuous internet connection and live in some remote location without any power (electricity). That would make the goal unattainable until you change these factors first.
Relevant
Is the goal relevant to John’s objectives and vision in life? In this case one would assume so because he is a family man in his middle ages and looking for a way out of the rat-race.
A goal that would be considered irrelevant to him would be for instance learning how to drive a truck or getting a degree in business. Whilst the first is misplaced, the second one could easily be seen as a needed factor when in reality becoming financially free can be done without having to get a degree in business studies. If anything, that degree would become a distraction to John and actually rob him of a couple of years in time which could have been used toward establishing assets to generate the passive income!
Trackable
This has to be time bound. That means the goals must be locked to a specific time and with specific milestones or markers. So, this would mean that John would take his grand goal and then break it down into medium and short term goals.
Then the short term goals should be broken down into specific monthly, weekly and finally daily goals!
With the above exercise in place, you are ready to move to the next stage.
One of the greatest causes for frustration when it comes to goals and their achievement is setting way too high goals. This happens when we fail to set what are known as SMART goals.
The acronym SMART stands for
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Relevant
T = Trackable
Now how does this relate to your goals? The best way would be to look at a hypothetical example like the following one below.
John would like to become financially free. Let’s break that down specifically using our acronym and see how it all works out. Instead of just stating that he would like to become financially free – which is very ambiguous, he needs to be more detailed and in such a way that his mind can grasp it clearly.
This process is known as crystallizing.
Specific
He should decide how specific from a financial standpoint. Looking at his current status he should first determine what would be the ideal income. Then he needs to create an income that does not require him to work for it to keep coming. That happens when one has productive assets. These assets will generate passive income. Once that income matches all of John’s expenses and has 50% or more in excess, then John can consider himself on the way to financial freedom.
So the goal would thus say… to have x amount of dollars in passive income… to cover the specific aspect.
Measurable
Here we need to specify the amount as shown above. Thus the x amount of dollars needs to be very detailed.
Attainable
Here we need to look at figures that can be reached looking at all resources available. Do not forget that this also takes into account resources like skills (existing and new ones), time, money, networks, people etc.
Bear in mind that your goal MUST be attainable in that you should not be setting wild goals that are beyond you in every way especially taking resources into consideration. A good example is to want to build an internet business when you do not have a laptop and continuous internet connection and live in some remote location without any power (electricity). That would make the goal unattainable until you change these factors first.
Relevant
Is the goal relevant to John’s objectives and vision in life? In this case one would assume so because he is a family man in his middle ages and looking for a way out of the rat-race.
A goal that would be considered irrelevant to him would be for instance learning how to drive a truck or getting a degree in business. Whilst the first is misplaced, the second one could easily be seen as a needed factor when in reality becoming financially free can be done without having to get a degree in business studies. If anything, that degree would become a distraction to John and actually rob him of a couple of years in time which could have been used toward establishing assets to generate the passive income!
Trackable
This has to be time bound. That means the goals must be locked to a specific time and with specific milestones or markers. So, this would mean that John would take his grand goal and then break it down into medium and short term goals.
Then the short term goals should be broken down into specific monthly, weekly and finally daily goals!
With the above exercise in place, you are ready to move to the next stage.
