Episode Details

Last week, I shared what risks and opportunities investment markets could offer us during 2022. These market expectations helped my wife and I set our personal, relationship, business and financial goals for 2022.

It is stating the obvious to so say that goal setting is important. I believe that if you aim at nothing, often that is exactly what you will achieve; nothing! Goal setting gives you more control over where your life is heading. Drive the bus. Don’t merely be a passenger on it.

Part 2: Goal setting process

This blog sets out the goal setting process that my wife and I followed this year. However, I must say that I don’t think there is a right or wrong goal setting approach. It’s simply about finding the approach and process that suits you. Hopefully this blog gives you some ideas and a broad framework.

Some tips I have learnt over the years

I have two tips that I would like to share with you to help you set goals.

Firstly, make sure your goal is specific, realistic and measurable. For example, a goal of “get fit” or “lose weight” is useless because it’s too vague. You must be specific, so that you can measure your progress.

Secondly, don’t be afraid to set a low bar, especially if this is the first time you have set this goal, or you have failed to achieve it in the past. Remember, some progress is better than none at all and you can always increase the goal/target during the year. For example, you might be super motivated to get into shape this year and be tempted to set a goal of exercising 6 days per week. The problem is that for most people, this will be too hard to stick to for the whole year. And the reality is that if you exercised 3 times per week for say 42 out of 52 weeks, it would go a very long way to helping you achieve your end goal. Also, don’t set too many goals. Unrealistic goals are very demotivating.

For example, to illustrate these two tips above, my health goals read like this; (1) exercise for 40 minutes at least 3 times per week – I track this (and other goals) using an app called Easy Habits, (2) never eat after 8:30pm and (3) I can eat whatever I want one day per week (i.e. one cheat day).

Remember, when it comes to completing goals, consistency way more important than effort. Just 1% of improvement/effort every day for a year will result a 37x improvement.

Step 1: Review last years goals

This first thing we do is review last years goals. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, it is important to identify any goals that you haven’t achieved and decide whether to include them on this year’s list.

Secondly, it’s wise to consider why you haven’t achieved any goal. If it was circumstances beyond your control, then it’s probably appropriate to include the goal again this year. However, if there are other reasons, then perhaps you can improve your implementation such as creating some form of accountability. Or perhaps it’s just a case that the goal isn’t that important to you, which is fine of course, but means maybe it shouldn’t have been a goal in the first place.

Step 2: Forecast this year’s cash flow

Many goals are dependent upon cash flow e.g. holidays, home improvements and virtually all financial goals. Therefor