Want To Achieve Ambitious Financial Outcomes? Try This Approach To Goal-Setting
Start at the end and then create a trail of mini-goals
Ambitious financial outcomes require more than just wishful thinking.
To be clear, it starts with wishful thinking—a big, abstract goal you want to achieve more than anything, like never having to rely on a paycheck to pay the bills.
But for that wishful thinking to one day become a reality, you must create a roadmap. This is done by creating a series of small, concrete goals. Each goal is clearly defined and easy to achieve, and each is a step towards your big, ambitious goal.
In this post, I review research that can help you build the roadmap to achieving your most ambitious financial goals.
At the heart of every financial goal is the need to control our own destiny
Achieving ambitious financial goals requires a huge investment of your time and a great deal of sacrifice—saving money literally means sacrificing your consumption today to achieve other financial goals in the future.
There’s only one reason any of us would go through all the trouble to do the work required to achieve ambitious financial goals:
Freedom.
To feel a sense of autonomy and control over their lives—not having their very existence depend on a paycheck every two weeks in perpetuity.
That feeling of control is not an all-or-nothing proposition.
It starts small with something like the ability to pay the bills on time, and eventually (with enough time and consistency), it leads to bigger goals like homeownership, paying off a mortgage, or retiring from traditional work.