Goals

So yesterday we set a goal.

Today, we’re going to look at where you are now.

I’ll use my goal from yesterday, “In 2013 I will save money.” Sure, I had some extra stuff attached to it, but let’s get down to the bare bones. Before I decide HOW I’m going to save money I need to look at where I sit now.

How much money is in my bank account?

Where does most of my money go?

How much of it is NECESSARY and how much of it is UNNECESSARY?

There are a few ways to do this. I do this through Mint.com, a website specific for budgeting. You can do it with an Excel spread sheet or just by browsing through your receipts. Where do you sit now? How much money did you spend this month, this year? How much of it was on necessities (groceries) and how much on unnecessary items (ANOTHER bath mat?). Dig through your necessities and break those down – do you eat all your groceries? Do they go bad before you eat them? Find where you’re spending too much or too little attention.

What about my other goal? “In 2013 I want to lose weight.”

Where am I now?

How much do I weigh?

Has it gone up or down in the last few weeks? Months? Years?

You can’t move forward until you identify where you are now. This is where you really need to spend time and write down how things are going NOW. Find the trends in your spending, weight loss, smoking, etc. You need to really paint a picture of what TODAY looks like, as well as yesterday. Those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it, right?

For some people this means making a chart plotting weight or spending vs. time. Maybe all you need to do is look back through your journal or Facebook photos to watch a gradual change (for the better or worse). The point is that today should be a day of reflection.

As I did yesterday, here’s a look at my own scribbles on my goals.

Seems simple, right?

“In the year 2013 I want to ________________”

Let’s do a practice one. “In the year 2013 I want to brush my teeth twice a day.” This is a simple goal and it’s fairly obvious and straightforward. To accomplish this I need to brush my teeth twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. Done!

Here, let’s try another one. “In the year 2013 I want to get healthier.” Awesome! So I’m going to…well…be healthy. This one’s a little more complex, isn’t it? Yet it’s one of the most popular goals set by people every year, next to losing weight. What does it MEAN to get healthier? How much weight do you plan on losing? By when? How do you plan to go about this?

Ah, so it’s not that simple, is it?

The point of setting goals is to have something SPECIFIC in mind. If your goal is to lose weight in 2013 you need to establish mini-goals alongside of them to steer you in that general direction. It’s easy to say, “I need to lose weight,” but it’s hard to say, “This is what I’m going to do to lose weight.” The same is true of the “I want to save money” goal. What does that MEAN, exactly? You’re going to stop buying brand name items? You’re going to shower less, lower the heat in your house, bike to work?

The problem most people have when they set goals is they fail to make SPECIFIC and ACHIEVABLE goals. “Losing weight” or “saving money” or “get healthy” may seem both specific and achievable but in reality they mean nothing. They don’t point you in any real direction. So let’s remedy this.

“In the year 2013, I want to lose 6 pounds and compete in the 135 weight class, so I’d like to be 130-135 lbs during the regular year. The first meet I want to focus on is in March.”

That is my “weight loss” goal for this year. I’ve stated how much I want to lose, I’ve set a date and an intention. This goal is very specific and achievable. It’s also important to note that my goal has a timeline – by x date I will have accomplished this. New Years isn’t the only time to set a new goal. Say you plan to lose 20 pounds before summer. You lose your 20 pounds, summer hits and you feel great, but now you’d like to shed 5 more pounds. You can always adjust your goals!

“In the year 2013 I will save money. I will stop online shopping (so I will unsubscribe from “deal e-mails”) for clothes, put aside $30 a month into my savings account, and follow my budget on Mint.com to a T.”

Here’s another one of my goals. Now, some of you may be looking at these like, “I have no idea what to do.” That’s fine! The rest of this series will focus on finding your strengths, weaknesses and looking at where you started. Go through this series with the structure of the above goals in mind. Eventually you’ll be setting similar specific goals.

So, take out a pencil and paper and write down the following…

“In the year 2013 I will _______________________________”

Here’s mine!