Hey, you!
We meet again for Week 6. I hope you're doing okay? Maybe put on some music and settle down with your favourite beverage. We'll keep it simple and a little reflective today, I promise.
Remember Week 1 where you defined your relationship with money? Well, the goals you're going to set for yourself are quite deeply connected to the kind of relationship you have with money. So go on, dig up that old piece of paper you buried somewhere in your desk!
Before you get started, I really want to make one thing clear — your goals are your own! The worst thing you can do is look at what your friends are doing and then blindly copy them. Did they buy a swanky new car? Did they take a 2-week holiday to Switzerland? That’s their life and goals. But they may not be yours! And for all you know, their “goals” are being financed through debt. What I mean by that is that they could be neck-deep in all sorts of loans. But, the only thing that you see will be their colourful photos on Instagram. So, ignore your friends. Ignore your neighbour. Put your blinders on and think only about yourself.
And in case you missed it, here's a refresher on all the things we talked about so far: Week 1 (habits), Week 2 (budget), Week 3 (income), Week 4 (taxes), Week 5 (insurance).
How long will the exercise take? 🕰️
30 minutes. Or maybe 60 minutes.
It really depends on how reflective you want to be.
Ready? Let’s begin Resolution #6!
We’re going to do this in just two steps.
- Finding goals.
Everyone tells you to set goals, but no one guides you on how can find your goals, right? Well, let’s change that. Because sometimes, all it takes is a trick to get there. Take retirement for instance. I highly doubt if there’s any one of you who’s reading this who isn’t thinking about retirement. You’ve probably even thought about how much you need to retire.
But let’s look at it through a different lens. What if I ask you, “Why is money important to you?”
You might say, “Because it means you can stop working and retire.”
Let me then ask you, “Why is that so important? What do you want to do after you retire?”
Now you’re thinking. And you might say, “It frees up time to pursue other things.”
Notice what just happened? Retirement might be the goal, but your driving force for retirement is something bigger. You might want to pick up that dusty camera in the corner and photograph wildlife. You might want to finally open up that café with your closest friends. Or you might just want to spend more time with family.
What you’ve figured out now is that you have a big goal of retirement. But you have many mini-goals within it too. You just found your goals!
Or…you could approach it slightly differently revisit school days — with a “fill in the blanks” exercise. :D
First, I want you to think about your life right now.
If I want to break out of my 9-5 and feel alive, I would___________.
Then, think about your future.
If I won the lottery, the first thing I’d do is ________.
Done? Do you want to know my answers?
If I want to break out of my 9-5 and feel alive, I would go on a fabulous holiday with my closest friends.
If I won the lottery, the first thing I’d do is build a house.
I just learnt two things about myself. First, I have a goal that I want to tick off my list every year — traveling with friends. So, that’s a recurring goal that I have to save towards. I might still want to travel with family and my partner, but friends are a priority too.
And secondly, I never thought I want to build a house. Maybe I’d thought I’d buy an apartment. But not build one from scratch. My answer to that actually revealed an inner desire to create and design something that I can truly call my own. And now I’m thinking of a massive piece of land with lots of trees and a small house in the middle.
Did your answers surprise you? Even if it didn’t, it’s okay. The exercise is to “find goals”. Not “be surprised on finding your goals”.
2. Now that you’ve found your goals, list them all out
Take a piece of pen and paper and start listing down goals that you’ve discovered. I want you to divide the goals based on the time in which you want to achieve them. Here’s an example.
Short Term Goals - less than 5 years
- Emergency Fund - so I can quit my job if I hate it
- Buying a car - a Tesla when it finally arrives in India
- Vacation every year - a plush one, maybe internationally
Yes, be descriptive about your goals.
Medium Term Goals - between 5 and 10 years
- Plush vacation every year
- Building a home - a house by the beach
Long Term Goals - greater than 10 years
- Retirement
- Open up a cafe. Or maybe a wine and cheese bar.
Yes, I’ve kind of revealed what some of my goals look like too. :)
Anyway, once you list this out, I want you to do a couple more things.
Next to the goals, write down the exact year in which you want to achieve the goal. And then write down an amount that you think you’ll need to get to the goal. Don’t worry if you’re off with this number, we’ll get to how you can fix this next week.
A secret for you 🤐
Now that you’ve identified these goals, you still need to push yourself to get there.
So, here’s a handy tip — Make it a Vision Board!
Draw out all your goals, pin some pictures to them. Make it really visual. Put it up on your fridge. Maybe even your living room if you’re artistic. Who knows, it could spark some very interesting conversations when your friends come over!
The soundtrack to end it🎵
There's nothing like some good old classic rock about money.
Money by Pink Floyd
"New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team."
Those were Pink Floyd's goals. And now I hope you've got yours sorted too!
Coming up next week 📅
Now that you’ve set goals, let’s make it into a mini financial plan! It’s going to be fun.
Did you enjoy today's edition? We’d love to see what goals you’ve picked out for yourself. Send us a picture maybe? Write to us at [email protected] We'd love to hear from you. :)
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