It's common for us to look at a new year and think about what we would like to change and what we would like to accomplish in the New Year. Those things we want to change we call resolutions and those we want to accomplish we call goals.
It wasn't' many years ago that I was adamant against setting goals and making resolutions. My reasoning was that I had an idea of what I wanted to do and that was enough. Writing things down just made my life more restrictive and set me up to fail. Does anybody else out there think this way?
These days I have done an about face. My wife kind of chuckles at this, remembering just how strongly I felt against making goals. What changed? I learned the Hawthorne effect from my friend, Robert Kiyosaki. The Hawthorne Effect states that what we measure improves and what we measure and report improves exponentially. So, writing down our goals and resolutions and then reporting on them goes a long way to helping us accomplish those goals and make the changes we need in our life.
So, if you don't mind, I'm going to share 3 of my goals for 2009 with you and each month I will report my progress. I apologize for getting a little personal here, but it helps me and hopefully will help you in your goals. I encourage you to do the same, i.e., to write down your goals and then measure and report to someone on a regular basis.
Goal #1: Build my house in Park City, Utah. As some of you know, this has been an ongoing project for several years now. The holdup for the past six months has been the Deer Mountain HOA. The Board rejected my plans because they thought the house was too big based on an arbitrary change to the rules that they made last year. So, the first step in achieving this goal is to get my plans approved, either by changing the Board's mind (working on this through a petition) or changing the plans to fit within the new guidelines.
Goal #2: Size 32 pants. I'm not that far off – I'm in a size 34, but that extra 2 inches would make a big difference in how I look and feel. First step goes to one of my resolutions – work out 5 days a week. I have been working out 3-4 but I have let my travel interfere with this.
Goal #3: Complete an Olympic triathlon in less that 2 hours and 45 minutes. My previous best is just under 3 hours. Next step is to work with my naturopath to strengthen my ankle muscles to I can start running again. This will help a lot with my travel as well, so I can run when I am away from home. (I have found it extremely difficult to find a pool to swim in when I travel.)
Now that I have measured and reported my current status of these goals, I will ask you to hold me accountable. And feel free to share any of your goals with the rest of us. We would be happy to be a part of your measurement and reporting process.
You may wonder why I share health and vacation home goals in a blog about wealth. But isn't wealth just a way to improve our life and obtain financial freedom? Health produces it's own freedoms. Even a smaller pant size increases your freedom as you are free to shop for nicer clothes that look and feel better.
And the ProVision Team is all about freedom; especially your financial freedom.
Remember that your financial freedom is closer than you think.
Happy New Year!
Tom
