THE PROCESS OF ACHIEVING GOALS IN 2019
When asked to boil life down to its most basic principle, I recently heard Wim Hof say this: “Be happy, strong and healthy and the rest is bullshit”. I’d say that’s good advice going into 2019. Listen, I know you have been bombarded by New Year’s goals advice for the last eight weeks. Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook have been inundated with advice to create that new you in 2019. If you were one of the millions of people who created a goal list and started to tackle some of those goals congratulations! If you have stuck by all your goals as we approach the end of January, then keep up the hard work. And if you haven’t created goals, haven’t even figured out where to start or simply didn’t get past week one of your new year’s resolutions, then don’t worry. Like millions who have missed their goal you were never given the proper tools to actually achieve your goals. That’s because we’ve all been missing one of the key elements to goal achievement: achievement process.
The reality is that many of us are good at setting goals, memorializing them (writing them down) and even taking some steps toward achieving those goals. But then a couple of weeks (and sometimes even a couple of days) into the achievement of a goal, we stop, we swerve off course and we end up missing the mark. I’d say that’s because the majority of goal setters go about it all wrong. They go about it without a process. So, here are some of my thoughts on the goal achievement process for you to deploy against your 2019 goals. I’m looking forward to hearing all about how you’ve achieved your goals in 2019 versus merely setting them.
STEP ONE: GET SMALL WINS EVERYWHERE
When asked about the pinnacle of human achievement Wim said to be happy healthy and strong. He didn’t say “Throw out your entire life every 365 days and start from scratch” The concept is complete and total nonsense and the mindset leads to failure. It is simply not possible to reinvent your entire life every January 1.
Step One in the process: Move the freaking needle. Rather than a complete life overhaul, identify the areas of improvement that will lead to the most beneficial result with the least effort. Said a different way, Attack the issue in your life that will move the freaking needle the most without requiring the expenditure of massive energy. Get several small wins early and see results multiply quickly. Then let that winning mindset propel you into the next steps of the process.
Examples of killer small wins that will move the needle are:
One small dietary change like no soda, a fast or replacing sugar with fat at breakfast*;
Cleaning Out your closet;
Daily 30 Second Cold Shower;
Five minutes of meditation before walking in your house after work.
These are changes you can make overnight rather than over the long haul and you can see results quickly. Consistency breeds consistency and after a period of success (which is different for everyone) you can move confidently onto the next step of the process.
*I really believe that diet and exercise are an important component of a happy life so for more tips check out this article: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-ways-to-lose-weight-without-diet-or-exercise#section10
APPLIED DIRECTLY TO OUR ESTATE PLANNING PROCESS:
If you feel like you need to overhaul your entire plan (or start one from scratch because you have nothing) don’t get that big. Instead, start with a personal protection strategy session focused on understanding and creating your personal protection documents like powers of attorney and health care directives.
STEP TWO: SWAP LIMITING BELIEFS FOR LIBERATING TRUTHS
Nothing kills progress and self growth more quickly than limiting beliefs; Limiting Beliefs sabotage both goal setting and goal achievement and need to be replaced with LIBERATING TRUTHS.
One author I find particularly interesting is Michael Hyatt. Hyatt states emphatically: “In order to achieve our goals, we need to trade our limiting beliefs for liberating truths”. The concept is simple and that is limiting beliefs stop us from creating achievable and meaningful goals from the beginning. If we don’t believe we CAN achieve the goal, we are highly unlikely to achieve it.
Limiting beliefs are just broad generalizations that are not grounded in reality. Often, limiting beliefs contain the words “Always”, “Impossible”; “Never” Limiting beliefs can be about the world, about others or about ourselves. They include things like:
It’s impossible for me to find time for the gym;
I’ll never be wealthy;
Finding a significant other will be impossible with my schedule.
Hyatt teaches that finding the liberating truth inside of these statements is the key to actually achieving goals. For example, finding time for ANYTHING is not impossible. That’s simply not true. Instead, you would say something like “I have the time for the gym but I use it to spend time with my kids because I prefer to do that”. Once we own the liberating truth, changing our behavior to achieve the goal is easier. In this example, splitting the week into 3 gym mornings and 4 family days might be the first step.
APPLIED DIRECTLY TO OUR ESTATE PLANNING PROCESS:
We hear the below mentioned limiting beliefs all the time. If you have thought these in the past try replacing them with the following liberating truths:
“I can’t name my younger son as Executor even though he’s more qualified because it would hurt my older son’s feelings” Liberating truth: Your older son might not want the job and if asked to work together the boys would likely solve issues together and come to a consensus. A family protection strategy session would help you to determine the best path forward for your family.
“I can’t work on a financial plan right now because I have (some event) coming up in the next month and I need to concentrate on that” Liberating truth: As my football coach used to say Tomorrow Never Comes! The reality here is that this is procrastination disguised as a lack of time today with the promise that you will revisit after an event and that never happens. There is always the next event. Instead think “I am busy with the event coming up but also need to address my personal finances so I will make 20 minutes over the next 3 nights to review the material form the law firm”.
STEP THREE: PICK MASSIVE GOALS
Average goals lead to average results. Small goals are uninspiring and therefore, make us lose interest quickly. Big, lofty goals, practically unattainable goals inspire us to take massive action in an effort to achieve those goals.
I was personally guilty of this for awhile. Some years in business I would think that a 20% increase from the year before was substantial and that I should seek a similar 20% increase the following year. I’d think: “If I could add 20% next year, that would be really swell.” That was loser thinking.
Instead, I should have been saying “I want to add 2000% AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE” because that would really be LIFE CHANGING and the action I would have to take would require real effort; 20% growth would kind of just come naturally and maybe I would hit it or exceed it by a marginal amount. But 2000% growth as quickly as possible would require steadfast determination every week, over the long haul – deploying money for advertising, consistently writing blog posts (wink) and networking at more events.
Step Three: Set massive lofty goals for areas of your life that would produce exponential change and get determined to accomplish them as quickly as possible but be grounded in the reality that the calendar year has no baring The higher the goal, the more action is required to achieve it.
APPLIED DIRECTLY TO OUR ESTATE PLANNING PROCESS:
Instead of thinking about paying down 20% of your debt (mortgage, lines of credit and credit cards) take large massive action and pay it all off! Think about ways to accomplish this – perhaps a second job, cancel a vacation or finally start that website for your side hustle. Simply paying down your debt in large chunks can add massive value BACK into an estate over time.
STEP FOUR: BREAK THE MASSIVE GOAL INTO CONSISTENT SMALL ACTIONS
Michael Hyatt touches on this concept in in his Full Focus Planner product (which I recently started using). While your goal should be lofty and on the outer limit of achievability, the first three to five steps to achieve the goal will be small, easily executable and….will move the freaking needle!. I think about a multiplier effect that can come from small consistent actions. I have seen this equation where one day compounds exponentially into day two, three and so on. Doing one small thing every day toward the achievement of a goal will add up over time. Consistently working out, reading or journaling lead to profound results. Don’t believe me? Try it.
STEP FOUR: Game-ify your small consistent steps.
After you have set your massive goal, break that goal down into small steps spread the steps out over the quarter. Every day you take a step toward achieving your goal is a day that you get a win. Then, over the next 90 days, check off a box in your calendar (or daily planner like the full focus planner) and create a habit around the small steps needed to achieve your massive goal. As a bonus, give yourself a reward at the end of the month or quarter as an incentive to check those boxes! 30 days of cold showers and this guy gets a new putter!
APPLIED DIRECTLY TO OUR ESTATE PLANNING PROCESS:
Every night, write one thing that your child did to make you smile or laugh and do it consistently for one month. Try turning this into a habit you perform every day! Do this in a journal and keep with your estate planning documents. I am willing to bet that those moments of joy will be far more cherished and valued to your family and heirs than any financial inheritance.
STEP FIVE: REVIEW, ACCESS, REVISE
If you are setting massive goals and consistently stretching the possibility then you will come up short from time to time. That’s ok. The way to set up for success is to check in on our goals and our progress on a regular basis to make sure that we are on track and that the goal is still relevant.
Step Five: ASK yourself 2 questions frequently:
Question #1: “Is then achievement of the goal still relevant to me?” If not, it’s time to ditch the goal. Don’t be romantic here. If the goal is not relevant, the action to achieve the goal will be wasted. It doesn’t matter how close you have come to reaching an irrelevant goal. Ditch the goal if its no longer relevant. That action can be deployed toward a different goal that IS relevant.
Question #2: “Are we on track to achieve the measurable goal that we are working toward?” If not, revise the ACTION you are taking to achieve the goal. Notice that it is not advisable not revise THE GOAL. When you revise you are not allowed to lower the bar to achieving the goal. Instead, you are only allowed to revise the actions to get to the goal, or revise the amount of other goals being executed at once. Do not revise your goals downward in order to achieve them.
APPLIED DIRECTLY TO OUR ESTATE PLANNING PROCESS:
There is no such thing as the “set it and forget it” estate plan. Our planning process requires a consistent and methodical review and revise process to make sure that the plans we have implemented for clients still achieve their financial and asset protection goals. If we are not on track to achieve goals or if the prior goals have become irrelevant then we make changes to the plan and re-access periodically thereafter.
Let me know how you have done with your plans and goals for 2019. Please feel free to respond to this email ff you would like me to write about any specific topics in estate and asset protection planning field or if you simply want to ask me what weird bio hack I am using at the time.
I am grateful for and appreciate all of clients and colleagues and wish you a Happy and Healthy 2019.
A.W.