A Writing Exercise
Something that can be difficult sometimes is figuring out where to begin. We may all have some vague idea of how we would like our lives to be and how we would like to live or even retire. The harder thing is figuring out how we will get there and even more difficult, what are the daily tasks we should be doing in order to ensure that this future will happen. There are many ways to try to manifest the goals we want, but for me the best way is to start from the ending and work my way back until I get to the present moment. From working backwards, you are able to see just what steps need to be taken and if the steps feel too large, you know you can bring it down smaller and smaller until it is something you can have as a daily, monthly or weekly goal. The best part about this way of planning, is that all it requires is some quiet time and some paper or laptop; whichever is your favorite writing device.
1 - Write down your Goals
Though this step may feel easy, it is actually the most important one. It is easy to say my goal is to retire young or buy a house or whatever mundane goal, but we encourage you to go deeper here. Your goal isn't to retire early actually, it is the emotion that it evokes. Emotions like stability, security, enjoying life. These are the actual goals. The material object you first are thinking of is simply the symbol of the true goals. Dig deeper into your goals and find the emotion that is driving them. These emotions may even surprise you.
It is also ok for this step to take several days or even a week. You can make this the topic of meditation and introspection. Discuss it with your spouse or loved ones, make sure you get the exact desire down. We have even dedicated a whole exercise to forming this idea here and here. When I was working on my Ph.D. this was by far the most important step. As eager grad students we would come to our advisors, excitedly telling them of our ideas for research and the advisors would nod but always tell us we weren't ready yet. It could take easily a year or more to perfect the research goal and question. Once we had that goal in mind, we were told to revise even further until we could state our dissertation topic in one sentence. Imagine that, one sentence to convey a complicated research question that will end in a 200-300 page dissertation! It feels like an impossible task, yet it is a necessary one. That being said, it is important to take your time and really find the core desire driving you in your life.
2 - What does this Goal look like?
Now that you have your goal in mind, what does it look like? If it is stability, what aspects does your stability have? Now is time to bring in the house or the early retirement or whatever the superficial initial goal was. But also look deeper. Does stability have to equal purchasing a house? What would make you feel stable otherwise? Money in the bank? Assets spread over a diverse portfolio? Is there an emotional or family aspect to it? Fully form the character of your goal. Often it is easy to become one-sided and we usually have blind spots. It is very typical for career minded individuals to falter in relationships, for example, but that doesn't mean that you do not want one (or maybe it does). Point is, we need to fully form the goal in a 3D space. Give it emotion and logic, fiscal sense and imagination. Think of your goal like a character you are writing for a play, make sure you know this character backwards and forwards.
3 - Flesh out the Details
Now we have our goal and its character, it is time to start fleshing out how to get to the goal now. Let's say you were wanting stability and this included a stable marriage and loving network of friends, strong portfolio and a cash safety net to catch you. Perhaps you are not prepared to move in one spot or you don't like the idea of purchasing a home, but you of course still need the ability to find a place you love to live. Now what do you already have or have the makings for? Perhaps you already have a strong portfolio, but want to continue to make it stronger but your personal relationships are lacking a little. How can we strengthen this? You could try attending classes where you can meet new people or taking time to call and text friends and loved ones you already have. To do this, maybe the problem is your time so now we need to make a schedule. Schedule out your day and stick to it. See if the time becomes available. If it doesn't, perhaps another part of your life needs to be trimmed back. Maybe you need to work on changing your work schedule or job so you can have more time with loved ones. Perhaps this change means a drop in income, how much of a drop are you ok with?
Work your way through each point and soon you will start seeing the life you need to be living now in order to get the life you want later on. While this is a brainstorming session, it is also not a quick part of the steps either. It requires brainstorming and further contemplation, revising and rewriting. Think of these goals as a story you are writing, you would not submit the first copy of a paper you wrote, and this is no different. Continually break down the steps needed to get to your goals until you have actionable steps that can be made in a week's time. Now you have a game plan for your goals.
4 - Revisit and Revise
Once you have this plan it is time to start putting it to action. But what works on paper does not always apply to real life. Perhaps what you thought you could do is going to take longer, or perhaps you simply can not do some of the steps needed for whatever reason. This does not mean that the goal is over, simply that it needs to be revised! Go back to your sheet and look everything over. Everything that is not working, make note of it and the reason why it is not working. With these new restrictions in place, revise your steps to something that you can manage.
5 - It's the Journey not the Destination
Remember, the goal is always to live a good life. We do not want to have such tunnel vision that we fail to see the beauty that is our life before our goals are reached. The life you are creating now should be enjoyable. It isn't going to be a vacation, there will be turmoil and pain, but it shouldn't be all turmoil and pain. Tomorrow is never promised and if you are living just for the hope of enjoying tomorrow, one day you will realize you wasted your whole life waiting to live.
How do you set your goals? Let us know your comments and questions at info@bullionite.com