Goal Setting Strategy – Setting Yourself Up For The New Year

New year resolutions, or what we fondly call - "New year, new me".

Many times people tend to set new resolutions at the start of the year, with the goal of improving their lives.

In this blog post, I am going to share a structured way that I learned in setting your goals and how to actually achieve them:

• The 3 Aspects That You Need To Set Goals On
• Doing A Performance Review on These 3 Aspects (Worksheet Included)
• The Action Plan To Actually Achieve Your Goals

The Big Three

When we set our goals, we need to set goals all three aspects.

If you miss out one of the aspect, then quite frankly, your goal setting is not quite complete.

Many people may fall into the trap of only setting goals for one aspect, and neglecting the other two.

A classic example, would be someone who is constantly chasing wealth, and neglecting their health and the relationships around them.

Now, we first have to recognise that all three aspects are crucial for success. Miss out any one of them, and your life isn't quite complete.

Let's address the importance of each of them.

Health

I often associate health with time and energy.

While it is not a surprise for most of us, we have to constantly remember that we will die one day. After all, an average human lifespan is around 80 years old. 

This is an especially important truth to really internalize if you want to achieve success.

Many people tend to fear failure, but as Steve Jobs said, the idea of death is the best way you to avoid the trap of thinking that you have anything to lose.

Take this for example, at your deathbed, who do you want to be:

1. I am glad I played safe. I took zero risks and never failed in my life.
   
   
2. I am glad I made the most out of my life, had the courage to fail enough to finally succeed.

I leave it to you to come to your own conclusion.

Okay, I know I digressed a little, so back to the topic of health.

By placing an emphasis on health, what we are trying to do is to "extend" our lifetime. 

Imagine this, if all your life you were chasing after wealth and you finally hit your million dollars by the age of 30 but the doctor tells you that you only have 2 years left to live. Don't you think that's a real shame?

Or it could be that you were so busy chasing wealth and finally hitting your million-dollar mark. But when you looked around you, you realised that you are all alone and don't really have anyone to talk to. Do you want to live your life this way?

This is why I emphasize that you cannot neglect any one of these aspects - health, wealth and relationships, all of these have to come together.

The other aspect of health is energy, which is why I emphasize that we need to exercise regularly.

Have you ever felt so tired after coming home from work, and the only thing you want to do is to watch "cat videos" on YouTube or the latest Netflix series?

The reason is because we have conditioned ourselves to feel that way.

After coming back from work, our instinctive response is to lie on your sofa or bed and do nothing productive at all.

One of my business mentors told me this.

For those who have been following me for a while, I am sure you have heard me mentioned this before.

But the truth is when I just started my journey on pursuing financial freedom, after coming back from work, I felt so mentally drained and the only thing that I wanted to do was to rest.

What I realised then is that these habits were symptoms that my body may not have enough energy to last through the entire day - both physically and mentally.

I knew something had to change, so there came the decision to exercise on a regular basis so that my body had both the physical and mental capacity to last through the entire day.

Now, with that said, you should still take breaks from time to time. But if you could spend just two hours every single day for the next 5 years, taking baby steps towards your goals - don't you think it is going to make a huge difference in your life?

And for those who are thinking, "two hours a day? I don't have that much time!"

Here's a short one minute video, from Gary Vee.

You need to watch this.

Here's a summary table of your 24 hours (if you are working in a 9-to-5.)

I am being conservative here to give us an 8 hours sleep, which is a pretty healthy number in my opinion.

But either way, you would have 3 remaining hours in a day to take baby steps towards your goals.

By the way, the above table is only for the days that you are actually working (i.e. weekdays).

During weekends and public holidays, you actually have even more time to take steps towards your goals.

Now, am I saying that you can't take breaks even during weekends and public holidays?

Well, not quite - that decision is up to you. As Gary Vee rightfully pointed out, if you choose to spend that time to rest, then accept the fact that you were giving up opportunities to achieve your goals. So don't complain when you see others achieving success earlier, because you never know how much hours they actually put in to reach their goals.

And, is it absolutely impossible to spend just two extra hours during the weekends to work towards your goals? Well, I am sure that you already know that answer.

Wealth

The next aspect of goal setting is wealth.

There is this erroneous concept that wealth is a measurement of money.

Well, personally, here's my opinion.

Let's illustrate an example using these two frictional characters - Ken and Benny.

Ken is making an income of $20,000 every month, while Benny is making an income of $5,000 every month.

Now at first glance, who do you think is wealthier?

You might think it is Ken - but I actually left out a crucial information which is time.

What if I told you that Ken is working 12 hours every single day (and hates his job), but Benny is only working 1 hour every day?

Now, if you get to choose - do you want to be Ken or Benny?

I don't know about you, but I would rather be Benny.

So you can see that wealth is not simply a measurement of money, but rather a measurement of time.

Now, you might be thinking, how is it possible that Benny is receiving $5000 every month just by working 1 hour every single day?

Remember, what I said previously - it all boils down to what you do after your 5pm.

It could be that Benny used to work in a 9-to-5, but after his 5pm, he is actively building his own business, looking for property deals, learning how to invest, etc. And eventually, he built up systems that provide him with a passive stream of income.

If you think that is impossible, I am sure we have seen people who build up their dividend portfolio such that the dividends collected is enough to pay for their expenses right?

I know what some of us might be thinking, "That sounds like A LOT of hard work."

Well, there's no lying about that, it does take a lot of hard work and determination. And if we are not ready to put in the work, then we are not ready to achieve our goals. 

Relationships

Finally, the last aspect is relationships.

As human beings, we are social creatures - no matter how introverted we may be, we still want to have close relationships with people that matters to us. Agree?

Here's a powerful quote I got from reading the book "Principles" by Ray Dalio.

This is a constant reminder to never neglect the relationships around you.

Remember what I said that an average human lifespan is around 80 years?

The time is always ticking.

I once attended a seminar, and one of the speakers said this:

"If you want to spend time with your parents, do it now, even if it just an hour a day - because they may not have as much time as you."

However, what are the common reasons why people don't spend much quality time with their loved ones?

• "I need to go out and work long hours to pay the bills..."
• "When I am back from work, the only thing I want to do is rest."

Does this two statement sounds familiar?

That's right - they are related to wealth, and health.

Can you see why you must set goals for all three of them? Miss out any one of them, and you are never complete.

Now that we understand the importance of these three aspects, it is time for a performance review.

Do A Performance Review

The Action Plan

Now, I trust that you have completed your worksheet, and written down your good habits and your bad habits.

Here's how you take action to achieving your goals, and here's the breakdown.

1. Do more of the good and less of the bad
2. Integrate into your lifestyle
3. Pay money to get committed
4. Find an accountability partner
   
   

Do more of the good and the less of the bad

Well, the big secret to achieving your goals is this.

Do more of your good habits, and less of your bad ones.

Surprising simple right?

You might be thinking, "Gin, this is common sense - I didn't even have to read this blog post to understand this concept."

Well, common sense isn't always common practice.

It is common sense that if you want to be fit and healthy, you have to exercise regularly and eat right. Yet, are there people around us who are doing the exact opposite?

That's right.

Many people are always looking for the magic pill, when the real answer all boils down to the fundamentals.

For example, when I realised that investing was working out for me, what did I do?

I did more of it. This means that I find ways to increase my capital, so that I can invest a larger amount. This could be contributing a larger percentage of my income (i.e. good habits), and spending less on unnecessary stuff (i.e. bad habits).

Now look back at your worksheet again.

What are the good habits that you can do more of, and the poor habits that you can reduce/eliminate?

Integrate Into Your Lifestyle

When I wanted to contribute more to my investment portfolio, I made that process automated.

This means that I send a standing instruction to the bank for them to transfer a portion of my income to my brokerage account every single month. This way, I don't have to worry about forgetting to do my "good" habits - it is done automatically.

For those habits that cannot be automated, you need to add those into your calendar, and actually schedule for it.

For example, during the weekends, I always set aside three hours to write a blog post for my readers. During these three hours, I will just sit in front of the computer, and write the content out for my readers.

Now, take a look at your own three areas, what are some of the things that can be automated or scheduled into your calendar.

It could be that you block out every third Sunday of the month, to bring your family out for a good meal. Or it could be that you arrange for a caterer to delivery healthy meals to your house.

These are just some ideas to think about - you need to integrate these good habits to your lifestyle, whether it is through automation or scheduling.

Pay Money To Get Committed

One thing that I realised most people struggle with is commitment.

For example, in January, they will set this goal for themselves to become fitter. They will get all motivated, and start running every single week. But by the third run, they lose steam, and subsequently gave up.

If you know that you are someone who is not committed, my advice is this - pay up and force yourself to commit.

Here's an example, imagine there is a fancy restaurant that you want to bring your children to.

But on that day itself, you had a long day and felt really tired, and you told your kids, "maybe let's postpone this dinner to next week..."

The next week came, and you felt tired - so you postponed it over and over again.

Soon enough, the relationship between you and your kids suffer - because you seemed to them like someone who cannot keep promises.

Now, here's the solution.

What if you had already paid a non-refundable $100 deposit to book a place at the restaurant? Do you think you will skip the dinner? Probably not, because you have already committed your money to it.

If that reservation booking was free, guess what is going to happen? You gave yourself the chance to succumb to your emotions and skip that dinner with your family, thinking "it is free anyways, so what if I skipped it?"

This is the power of paying money to get committed, which is also the reason why I paid well over $20,000 of my savings attending business and investing programs. It forces me to take action towards my goals.

Find An Accountability Partner

This is by far, one of the most powerful ways to achieve your goals, but I do not see many people doing this.

You see, let's say you want to become healthier, perhaps one way is that you can simply do a 10km run every single week.

But let's be honest - will there be times where you felt tired and you tell yourself this excuse, "I am feeling very tired today, maybe I will just skip today's run and continue next week"

The next week came, and you didn't run again.

And soon enough, you stopped running and revert back to your old self.

This is why there are fitness coaches, whom people pay a good amount of money for them to coach them on fitness.

Do you really think that they are paying them to teach them how to exercise? No, they could have easily watched YouTube to do that.

They are paying them for accountability. They are paying them so that their coaches will force them to exercise, even during the days they feel like quitting.

Because they know if they want to achieve their goals, they have to do what it takes even when they feel like quitting at times.

Sometimes, you don't even need to pay for a coach. You could get a group of friends and make it a weekly affair to run a 10 km together.

When you do it with a group of people, there is a lesser chance you would quit.

Why? Because deep down, you don't want your friends to think that you are a quitter, and that forces you to go for that 10km run every single week.

But remember the quality of the group matters. If you surround yourself with quitters, then you will eventually become a quitter. But if you surround yourself with motivated individuals, that is where the chances of you achieving your goals skyrockets.

Conclusion

In summary, the three areas that you need to set goals on are health, wealth and relationships. You can never neglect any one of them, or else, your goal setting will be incomplete.

To really achieve your goals, all you have to do is to do more of your good habits and less of the bad ones. After you identify the good habits, try to integrate into your lifestyle through automation and scheduling.

And to really improve your chances of achieving your goals, you need to either pay to get committed, or find an accountability partner(s).

If you are reading this article during the new year, then I really hope that this article helps you in setting your new year resolutions as much as it has helped me. But even if you are reading this on any other day, it is never too late to set your goals. The key to getting ahead of others, is simply to get started.

P.S By the way, if you enjoyed this article, and it helped you in any way, why not share it with your friends and family by clicking on the share/tweet button below? It will bring me great joy if this article could reach out and serve more people.