Don't Focus on Goals, Focus on Direction
“People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.” – Thomas Merton
As a financial advisor, helping clients set goals is what we do. We want to identify what a client is looking to accomplish, build a plan to help them work towards those goals, and deal with changes along the way.
But as humans, goals just don’t do it for us. Generally, people hate being asked, “what are your goals?”
Odds are they have never really thought about it or just don’t have an answer.
The usuals will pop up: buy real estate, travel the country/world, accumulate $2 million dollars, etc.
Some will even have the same response as Brennan from Step Brothers:
But when you ask them, “why?”, they will struggle to answer.
Goals can make us complacent. Once you accomplish the goal, you feel like you are done.
“I have a goal to become a CPA. I study and pass the exams. Boom, accomplished, I’m done.”
But then what? Why did I even want to become a CPA?
When we set goals, we assume we know what’s going on in the environment around us. We love the idea of certainty.
But life is chaotic and a complete mess. We get pulled in so many directions, that we end up just treading water and saying, “I’ll get to that when this is over” or “We will find time to start working on this goal once life settles down a bit”.
News flash: life will never slow down.
Therefore, our goals never go according to plan.
Which is fine!
Don’t necessarily get hung up on identifying your goals. Focus on the direction of where you want to go, and then generate momentum.
Why are you saving money? What are you looking to do with it?
It’s not that you wanted to accumulate $2 million. It’s that you wanted to spend time with your family and give back to your community.
You don’t want to be a burden to your kids. You want to see your kids enjoy some of their inheritance while you’re alive.
We all want flexibility, freedom, and time.
But that’s hard to quantify. There may not be a moment where you can say, “ah-ha, I’ve accomplished my goal.”
You still should set goals. Setting goals give us a sense of direction and a target.
Goals allow us to measure some sort of progress. But don’t stop there.
We should be looking to compound our life. And in order to do that, we need to give ourselves time.
That’s the problem with goals, is they can be short-term focused. Longer-term goals are hard to set because of the unknowns.
New information comes up or an opportunity you didn’t foresee presents itself.
You then need to be able to fine tune your goal and ride that momentum wave.
As you go on your journey, have a sense of purpose and a known direction. Understand that goals are just guesses and change is inevitable.
Become unbreakable. Be able to live through all different environments so that the power of compounding can do it’s thing.
Don't only focus on goals, identify and focus on direction.
Where do I want to go? What type of person am I trying to become?
Now that’s powerful.
Disclosure: This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.