How I Am Going to Hit My Goals

I haven’t accomplished too much.

This year I turn 30. I guess when I was 20, I thought I was gonna be a baller by the time I was 30. Somehow I would find my way to a six figure salary. I thought if I kept up with my gym and fitness habit, I was going to be a real fit and good looking guy. I wasn’t only going to be rich, I would look it.

That’s the only thing I remember about it. I have to admit, that was a pretty shallow 10 year vision. Money and looks. Well I’m a few months short of 30, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t achieved either.

Money, looks, vacations, big house, sports car, and fine dining. The dreams that I always had. Advertising, BET, and Hollywood did a pretty great job for painting the vision for my life.

Thing is, I’m a little older and know that none of these material things are going to make me very happy, very fulfilled. I know that I need my own vision.

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” — Yogi Berra

Personal Vision

That’s why I developed my own personal vision. A compelling vision of the life that I want to live.

Why I exist on this earth.
What sort of husband I will be.
What sort of father I will be.
My vocation.
My career.
Physically how I’ll feel and look.
Who and how I will impact.

It took me several months to develop my personal vision. It went through iterations. It actually started out as a “25 Year Vision”. But it didn’t serve my purpose. I needed a statement written that had exactly what I was living for, and who I was going to be. If I am qualitatively working towards any goal in this manner, I will not have failed.

If I teach, instruct, and model my children to live a good life, of joy, charity, love, and learning, I will not have failed. If I give high satisfaction to my wife in our marriage, I will not have failed. If I live a life of charity and giving, I will have not failed.

10 Year Goals

The personal vision is a mission statement. It’s the qualitative parts of my life. But it still lacks to oomph that really gets me going. It’s nothing I’ll ever achieve or arrive at. They are statements of what I stand for and the lens in which I view success.

So then I have my 10 year goals. These are KPIs. They are falsifiable. Either I have achieved it or I haven’t.

Financially — I will have X amount of disposable income every year. Influence — this is the number of followers, and impressions I have. Charity — this is how much I am giving. Physically — I don’t even have words — it’s a picture of a handsome and fit 40 year old.

At 40, either I have hit the mark or I haven’t. Making these goals falsifiable makes the goals clarified. Writing it down, and naming it my “10 Year Goals”, makes me committed.

1 Year Goals/Vision

The 1 year goals are a drip down of the 10 year. Now that I know exactly where I am going, and what is pass/fail, I need to make steps towards that goal. The 1 year goal is simple. They are numbers somewhere between where I am at now, and what I wrote in my 10 year vision.

The Sunday Review and Planning

Writing it down wasn’t enough for me. I need constant reminders. I’m pretty damn forgetful. When I don’t remind myself, I end up watching TV eating chips for dinner. This past Sunday I didn’t do my weekly review. I slept in. I didn’t write. I didn’t go to the gym.

So I do a weekly review on Sundays. It reminds me of my why. I look back and review the week prior. I plan what I will do the following week to make steps towards my goals. I add blocks of time in my calendar for the activities that I have committed to.

I developed my weekly routine using the Weekly Planning Process and Template from the people at Live Your Legend.

I’m not sure if this will work. I’ve done the weekly planning 9 of the first 11 weeks this year. Both times I missed doing it I had way less productive weeks. Albeit one of the weeks I was deathly ill.