Goal Setting Investments

December 26, 2010 by  
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page, Wright Ideas

The Environment
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The goal setting process is about identifying what obstacles are between you and your goal and getting access to the resources needed to bypass those obstacles. Some of the resources we need to reach our goals are time, money, and energy. By focusing on how we can leverage our current time, money, and energy we can create more for when we need them most.

People usually talk about spending money at the store or spending time with their family. The spending mindset is all about the expense in terms of time, money, or energy. When people talk about investing they expect something in return over the long term, not just the momentary pleasure of eating, being entertained, or hanging out. The investment mindset is about the return in terms of time, energy, or money.

When people want to have more money they often start by eliminating excess spending. This is an attempt to reduce the expenses. The trouble with eliminating expenses is that there is a point where no more expenses can be eliminated. If we have a fixed income, there is only so much money we can keep even if we eliminate all our expenses.

The question you should be asking yourself when investing rather than spending is “what is my return on this investment?” Return is profit divided by investment. In other words return is how many more dollars do you get back for every dollar invested.

For example, if I invest $100 in a piece of art and am able to sell it for $100, my return is 0% — I only made back my one dollar for every one dollar I invested. If I am able to sell that piece of art for $150 I made a 50% return — I made back my original $100 plus fifty cents on each dollar I invested. If I decide that I need to be rid of this art piece because it is taking up too much space and I sell it for $50 I had a negative 50% return on that investment — my pay out was $50 less than the original $100 I invested.

Using the principle of return on investment let’s look at typical spending. If I spend $100 on a new TV and get $0 because of it, I have a return of negative 100% — I lost 100% of what I put in. The same applies to our time and energy. The time spent in front of that TV is generating me no pay out and therefore is a 100% loss of that time.

How is this different if rather than spending the time I choose to invest it? I invest the $100 and the several hours a day towards my goals. I may be able to turn that $100 into $200 or $1000. I may turn those few hours into weeks on the beach. I may even notice that my energy level is higher because I’ve invested in something meaningful to myself!

By focusing on investing our time, money, and energy into areas where we will see positive returns, such as our goals, we are able to leverage the original resources and the newly created resources. These resources can now be used to reach other goals more quickly and easily. By choosing to invest, rather than spend, our limited resources we are creating a positive spiral and making our lives match our dreams.

Visit http://SixStepsForChange.com for more on goal setting and more importantly, goal getting and find out how Native American wisdom, good business sense, and NLP are helping more people create the life of their dreams.

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How High Are Your Goals?

by Wayne Buckhanan

Wayne Buckhanan - EzineArticles Expert Author

Empty Net
Image via Wikipedia

Some people say you should set realistic goals. Some say that you should set small, reachable goals. Some emphasize large, inspiring goals. This article talks about how to take the best of each and combine them in your goal setting.

Do you have any “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals” that drive your life? The psychological benefits of setting these BHAGs is manifold. By the process of thinking bigger we expand our view of the world and allow our subconscious to resolve what it would take to reach higher than we ever thought possible. Not to mention the idea that you can “shoot for the moon” and if you miss you still “land among the stars.”

Now, your BHAG should be big enough and audacious enough that it is not going to take one step to reach it. You may have any number of milestones or intermediate goals you’ll need to reach before getting to the ultimate goal. Each of these milestones is likely to be a realistic goal even if they take a little stretching to reach. These may be on the level of the goals you used to create before setting your BHAG. They will take some planning and execution but are very reachable.

Each of those milestones will have some number of tasks that need to be completed. Each of those tasks could be considered a small goal. One of my friends likes to say “if you set the bar low enough you can trip and still make it over.” While this may be taking it to an extreme low, there is something to be said for building up a history of successes with small wins. Every completed task, goal, and especially completed BHAGs should be celebrated before moving on to the next task, goal, or BHAG.

By setting goals at all levels (big, small, and in between) we are able to leverage the benefits of each level while avoiding the dangers of setting only one type of goal. The key is in setting goals and creating a good plan through a proven process.

By setting smart goals you’ll be able to reach goals at each of these levels. Visit http://SixStepsForChange.com to learn more about the process of setting those big, hairy, audacious goals — complete with a plan to get there!

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Passionate About Your Goal

Passionate encounter
Image via Wikipedia

Being passionate about your goal is sometimes hard.

So think past it to why you are doing it.

It’s hard for someone to be passionate about making an extra $5,000 in the month.

It’s much easier to passionate about the bills you are paying off or the vacation

you can buy with the extra money.

Take a minute and look beyond in case you do not feel passionate about the immediate goal.

It does not mean you abandon it, just take time to really look at it.

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