Those of us in the financial services industry have done you no favors when it comes to helping you set financial goals.   We go to great lengths in imploring you to establish financial goals and stick to them.  After all, how can you get somewhere if you don’t know where you are going.  We all know the power of goals. Goals focus our energies towards the successful attainment of that which we seek.  What we seek should be important to us and it should bring feelings of joy and fulfillment when we get there.  When it comes to setting goals we financial service professionals tell you to set goals, but we never show you how to set meaningful goals.

Unfortunately when discussing financial goals, people fail to put them into the proper context.  People list goals such as paying off credit cards or mortgages.  They talk about setting up IRA accounts, of achieving high rates of return and putting money aside for emergency expenses.  We seek financial independence as a goal without understanding what that really means to us.  We may know how to get to the goal, but seldom do we know why we want to get there.  For many of us, the process of setting and reaching financial goals routinely results in failure and frustration.  We fail because our goals are not meaningful and we become frustrated because we find ourselves always coming up short. The fundamental problem in this entire goal setting process is that most people don’t really know what a goal is and what a real goal can do for them.

What feelings surface when you think about setting a goal?  Do you feel pressure, maybe a little tension?  Does your heart rate pick up?  Do you feel like you have to perform or meet someone’s expectation?  If those are the feelings you have when thinking about setting goals, especially financial goals, then you are not looking at your true goals.  

Goals should not create tension and pressure, they should create excitement, anticipation and joyous expectation.  Remember as a child when you could hardly wait for your birthday to come around with the party and gifts.  Maybe it was the anticipation of the end of a school year and the excitement of summer vacation, of baseball and swimming pools and going on vacation.  That is the feeling we should be associating with goals, not the tension or pressure that we all too often find when we set goals.  A good rule of thumb is to carefully examine the feelings associated with the goal you are considering.  If it instills visions of excitement and joy you are probably close to your true idea of a goal.  If the vision creates tension, you are facing a task that may get you closer to your goal, but it doesn’t bring joy.  Tension is relieved when a task is finished.  Goals are happy events when they are reached.   Did your parents ever promise to take you to a movie if you cleaned your room?  Going to the movie was the goal; cleaning your room was the task that got you to the goal.  You didn’t really want to clean your room, but you were willing to do so to get to the movie.   

So what does all of this have to do with setting financial goals?  It has everything to do with it.  The simple idea of a goal being exciting and a task being dull, but necessary is crucial to the ability to set and achieve goals.  If you know there is happiness and fulfillment awaiting you, you will do everything in your power to make sure you reach that goal.  

To make goals meaningful and significant in your life, they must move you closer to your life’s purpose.  Your life’s purpose is the reason you believe you are here on earth.  It is a simple phrase that typically begins with “to be….. .“  Perhaps you want “to be a successful businessperson,” or your life intention is “to be a skilled surgeon.”  This phrase is the fuel in your life engine, it drives you, it pushes you forward.  It causes you to do your absolute best.

On the surface it may seem easy to identify your life intention.  On the contrary, it is difficult and in some cases risky to come to grips with what you want to spend the rest of your life pursuing.  You may find that the career you currently have is not consistent with your life intention.  That alone can cause uncomfortable feelings.  You may feel like you are starting all over, and you may well be doing exactly that, but the alternative course may be a waste of your true talents.

Your life intention usually reflects your personal values.  To have a life purpose that does not reflect your core beliefs will likely cause some serious confusion and frustration.  So in searching for your life intention, begin with your values.  Values are your principles, that you will never, ever compromise.  They are the foundation upon which your life intention is built and carried out.  Keeping those two concepts working together will greatly increase your odds of leading a happy successful life.

So what do your financial resources have to do with all of this?  Being able to pursue your life intentions will require money, in some cases more and in some cases less.  However, if you know why you are pursuing a financial goal and why it will bring you closer to achieving your life intention, it stands to reason that that goal will bring with it feelings of joy and excitement.  When you put your goals in that context, not only will you increase the odds of achieving the goal, but you will also develop a greater sense of urgency and determination to make it happen.  

When your goals are well grounded in your life intentions and values, they can be powerful motivators. We all need financial goals with that kind of power behind them.  Your challenge is to put your goals in that context.  If you can’t do that alone, find someone skilled in the art of helping you set financial goals and enlist their support and expertise.  If you set goals based on your values and life intentions, you will see positive changes in your life.
 
 

© 2002 Mark Neil    Norman Rockwell illustration from the Art Renewal  Center