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Score Big by Setting Financial Goals How to Reach your Financial Dreams through Written Goals
What's standing between you and your future success? Nothing, as long as you can get in the habit of setting financial goals and make actionable plans for achieving them.
Setting financial goals and priorities, and then following through by making active plans to make your financial goals happen, is essentially about turning your dreams into a reality. Setting financial goals and priorities are the steps that will take your life out of your parents' hands and into your own- setting financial goals is the best way to get from dependent child to independent adult.
If you're ever aspired to be comfortably secure, or financially independent-or even a millionaire!-that takes setting financial goals. Because you can't score without a goal, right?!
The Importance of Financial Goals - What are Goals? When your setting financial goals you are making statements of anticipated outcomes you are looking to achieve. Personal financial goals are important because they lead you to everything you will do in life. Your financial goals are your ultimate destination, and they will keep you on course and headed in the right direction. To be truly happy in life-to succeed in your endeavors-you really need a clear sense of purpose and direction.
Ever been camping? Or watched The Blair Witch Project?! Well, without setting financial goals you are like a hiker lost in the wilderness. With no sense of direction and without a map, GPS or compass, you cannot find your destination. But if you practice setting financial goals that you wish to achieve, then you'll find that you already have the right tools to stay on course. You'll know exactly where you want to eventually end up-instead of wandering aimlessly!
There are many benefits to setting financial goals and life goals:
Setting financial goals give you a purpose in life, something to strive for that will challenge you to reach your full potential. Set specific objectives that you want to accomplish. Think of a setting financial goals as a dream of where you want to be in the future.
Where do you want to be in five years? Ten years? Twenty years?
Successful People have Written Financial Goals The act of writing down and setting financial goals is like drawing out a road map with an image of the goal at the end of the road. It is a scientific fact that you will achieve a higher percentage of your financial goals through imagining the successful achievement of those goals. When you use mental imagery to focus thinking, you can actually rewire the brain so the neurons form new connections and new pathways. The act of setting financial goals helps in creating a visual image.
One man who used the power of setting financial goals to sell millions of books was Napoleon Hill. He said, "Anything the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." If you can imagine setting financial goals and believe in yourself, you can reach them, too.
Successful athletes, actors, leading business people, and top politicians have personal financial goals. The individual goals vary greatly; however, it provides them all with the roadmap for success. Kobe Bryant's goals may be to become MVP and average 35 points per game, while Brad Pitt's goals are to help kids in Africa and complete three blockbuster movies this year. Each has unique goals, but by pursuing them, they both have direction to what they want to achieve. And they reach those goals. You can, too.
Get down to writing! This will help you to visualize your goals, making them real and attainable. To prove how powerful the simple act of setting financial goals is, take a look at a famous study of Yale graduates. In 1953, researchers interviewed the graduating seniors at Yale University and asked them if they had a set of written goals. Less than 3% of the graduates had their goals down on paper.
In 1973, twenty years later, a follow-up study was conducted. The 3% that had the written goals when they graduated in 1953 were worth more than all the other 97% of the class members combined. Now that should motivate you to sit down and begging setting financial goals!
Write down what you hope to achieve, and you've set your goals.
Tips for getting started: set goals that impact your whole life Although this program will focus on setting financial goals and personal development goals, it is important that you set goals for each area of your life.
Everyone has room for improvement, so don't be shy-how could you become a better person? After all, life is not just work and how much money you earn. Make goals for all areas of a well-balanced life:
Money Pros are in the habit of setting financial goals. The achievement of those goals allows them to live the life they dream about.
Vince Shorb, creator of the multi-media course that teaches young adults about money, takes a holistic approach to generating wealth. He teaches the 3 pillars of money: getting the mind right, foundation of wealth, and the three investment that lead to financial freedom. His course and free instructional video can be found at www.FreeBy30.com.
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