How did last year’s New Year’s resolution go.
Maybe you just forgot about it as the champagne bottles were packed away and life resumed.
What’s going to make this year any different?
How do you make your decision stick?
No worries, I’ve got you covered.
Here are ten steps for successful goal-setting to make 2021 your breakthrough year.
1. Make It Be Measurable and Specific
New Year’s resolutions are often vague. Real goals are specific and measurable.
It’s the difference between saying,
“I want to start running in 2021”
and saying,
“On September 26,, I’ll run the Berlin Marathon in less than 3.5 hours.”
Ask yourself, what specifically do you want to achieve this year?
By how much do you want your fortune to grow?
When talking about investing, it makes sense to set up long-term goals as your primary goals. Let’s say 5-10 years. It makes you less vulnerable to fluctuations in the market. So let’s begin there.
How rich do you want to be in five years? In ten years?
Be really specific.
2. Be Ambitious
Big goals are a lot more compelling.
Cultivate your inner Napoleon. At least your inner Napoleon Hill, the mastermind behind Law of Attraction.
He says that ambitious goals are like strong fires, while small goals are weak fires.
There’s not a lot of energy in mediocre goals.
You have to be a bit audacious to become motivated.
Set a goal. Then double it. Or quadruple it.
How does it feel now?
3. Have a Strategy
If you’re training for a marathon, you’d better have a running schedule.
You can’t show up on September 26 and expect to be successful.
You’ll have to know how many days a week to run, when to train intervals, when to train stamina, and when to rest. You need to know what kind of food to eat before long runs. You’ll even have to plan what to wear when going on long runs.
The same with investing.
You need a plan and a strategy.
How are you going to invest? Which strategy will you follow? Value investing? Passive investing? Day trading? Momentum investing? Copy trading? Pick a strategy.
You’ll also need to plan how much money you’ll save for investing purposes.
4. Set up Subsidiary Goals
If you’re training for a marathon, it’s a good idea to measure your progress with other running events than the major one.
You’ll want to sign up for a half marathon and even shorter runs throughout the year to see how you fare in a competition and how fast you’ve become.
When you’re investing, you want to measure your progress at least every quarter.
Investing is a slow sport. Kind of like watching grass grow.
You don’t notice any difference from day to day.
But if you take a picture of a plant, you’ll notice a huge difference over time.
So take stock of stocks, so to speak. Track your progress by measuring your wealth. It’s enormously motivating.
5. Commit Yourself
You’ll only be successful if you promise yourself that you’ll stick to it whatever it takes.
You have to make that promise to yourself.
Whenever I’ve accomplished something in life, it’s taken sheer determination and a promise to really do it.
If you’re not committed, like really committed, you won’t have success. It’s that simple.
6. Have a Purpose
You have to know why you’re really doing it.
Let’s take running as an example again.
Hopefully, you don’t run just for the sake of running.
Hopefully, there’s a bigger purpose, which could be an intent to live a long and meaningful life without lifestyle diseases that could cripple you.
The same with investing.
Ask yourself why you invest. “To make more money” is not an answer. That’s like saying you run to become faster.
Ask yourself why you want to make more money.
When you get a new answer, ask yourself why again. Keep on doing that until you reach the last answer. In the end, you’ll reach your true purpose.
It might be avoiding stress. It might be having more choices in life. It might be securing a future for your children.
The purpose is different for each of us.
For me, it’s a combination of things. It’s about creating generational wealth so my children and grandchildren (to come) can make the best choices without being restricted. It’s also about securing my own freedom and finally it’s also about wanting to influence the world through my investments.
7. Visualize Your Success
If running that marathon is your goal for 2021, visualize yourself crossing that finish line.
Hear the cheering, feel the sweat and adrenaline. Notice how you feel. How is it going to change your life? Affect your relationships? Your mood?
If investing is your goal, see yourself reaching your target. Notice how it feels. Who are you going to be when you get there? Reaching goals changes our inner script. It changes who we are psychologically.
Visualize it until you actually live it. Taste it. Believe in it.
8. Face the Monster
Avoidance is also a choice.
If you don’t run, you are voting for lifestyle diseases.
If you don’t invest, you are voting for poverty.
Create a worst-case scenario. What’ll happen if you don’t take action? Visualize that too, and decide that it’s not who you are anymore.
I visualize my own diseased mother who spent her last decades on government subsidies, locked in an apartment, suffering from a bad hip and rheumatism. Being unable to afford a taxi, a meal at a restaurant or any extra help. Being very dependent on her children for support.
I’ll never put my boys in that situation.
That’s not who I am.
Therefore, I invest and take care of my finances.
9. Get Educated
If you want to run a marathon, you’ll probably read some blogs and books about the best nutrition, the best running schedule, the best running equipment.
You’ll want to avoid making beginner mistakes that may result in you getting injured and failing to reach your goal of running the marathon.
The same with investing.
You need information so that you can be the best investor possible and avoid making silly mistakes that could cause you to lose your money.
Ever considered taking an investing course?
Maybe now is the time. It’s money well spent.
10. Get Some Running Mates
Running is more fun if you join a club and find people to run with.
The same goes for investing.
You’ll stick to it if it becomes a social event and if you meet people who will hold you to your new standards.
This is another reason for taking an investing course. This is where you’ll meet your peers.
So.
Where does your journey begin today?
Right here with me.
You begin by reading my e-book.
Then you join my Facebook Group.
Don’t forget to read my e-book Free Yourself. You can get it here.
