The importance of goal setting 

Pop quiz: How are your New Year’s resolutions progressing?  Do you even remember what you resolved to change or improve?  So much has changed in the past 10 weeks that it may be difficult to reflect upon what was so important in early January.  I’m guessing that most of us didn’t have balancing work, life, family living from home on our short list of 2020 resolutions!  As June inches closer, and we look at the remaining seven months of the year, now is the time to reflect on where you are and make adjustments where necessary.

I’ve always found goal-setting to be important, in all aspects of my life.  There is something that just works for me, personally, when I set goals in my life.  Reviewing my progress, periodically, has allowed me to make changes along the way.  It took some time to discover this, but I’ve found that annual goals and resolutions are great, but I find it difficult when it comes to follow-through.  Years ago, I read a book about resetting my vision from a yearly plan to a 12-week timeframe.  This completely changed my perspective on getting priorities accomplished.  Taking my annual goals, and breaking them down into more manageable, bite-sized items, was a game changer.  This allowed me to assess progress every twelve weeks and make adjustments where necessary.  I discovered that checking-in with myself four times per year, instead of just once, generated better results.  In addition, I also learned that some goals I felt were important early in my annual plans would lose importance later in the year.  Life moves quickly and its ok to make course corrections along the way.

We take this same quarterly goal-setting approach and apply it to our financial planning practice for our clients.  There are so many decisions regarding your financial and life choices that it becomes difficult to know where to start.  Our time and brain power are limited. It seems that distractions are constantly popping-up, making it easy to simply cast aside the necessary planning to a later date.  Guess what…? That later date typically never arrives.  What does arrive is a life event or decision that drives you to react to what’s happening.  I’ve learned from 20+ years in the financial industry that it’s difficult to plan properly when you are consistently reacting to events around you.

What if you could get more done and feel better about your progress?  What if you could carry less worry and concern about your choices?  What if you could have a professional guide provide feedback on your journey?  This is what we have been doing for decades through serving our client’s financial planning needs.  Breaking-down all of the financial and life-planning tasks into manageable bites while prioritizing what’s most important to you now.  When this is completed and accountability “check-ins” are added every twelve weeks or so, you gain a sense of confidence in your future and where you are headed.

Your financials are important, but they are not everything.  It’s important to factor in other priorities such as your fitness, health, future fun, personal growth when creating professional and financial goals.  If you’d like a first or second opinion on where you are now, please reach out as we’d love to hear from you.

Life is short, let’s get after it!

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