Goals

Yesterday my thoughts were on dreams. Today I'm thinking about goals.

I think that the only thing that separates a dream from a goal is action. The ones that we make up our mind to try to accomplish are our goals.

I like to list my goals and review them all the time. I also like to reevaluate them every few months. I have two types of goals. Short term and long term. Those things that I can accomplish in 90 days are my short term goals, everything else is a long term goal.

When I first started my business I wrote my goals out like this:

1. Build better relationships
2. Quit working outside of the home
~ spend more time with my kids
~ join a gym (and go!)
~ cook dinner 4 nights a week
3. Pay off credit cards
4. Build a deck
5. Put more money in savings

Now, this is just an example, I wanted to show you that even though I had a more long term goal on my list, I would break that one goal into smaller ones. Even though I may not have been able to quit working outside of the house completely, I could see that I was making progress. Maybe I only had to work two weekends out of the month instead of all four. Because I was able to work less hours I had more time to spend with my kids. Those little things really make you feel good about what you are doing. After all, if what you are doing isn't paying off, are you going to keep on doing it?

Now, most of our goals can be put in to different categories. Not just short term and long term. They can be personal (health, relationship, etc.), business (work, money, etc.), or spiritual goals. Some of these goals we can accomplish on our own. Some of them take other courses of action.

If your goals are to build a deck, or add more to the savings account, or go on a great vacation, you probably need to find a way to bring in some extra cash. Think about how much extra income you would need to accomplish those goals. Now, how are you going to do that? Can you bring in that much additional income at the job you currently have? Could you go out and get another part time job? Would you still have time to live your life?

If working more hours or going out to get a second or third job doesn't sound like something you are willing to do, then it's time to look at other options! A home business maybe?

Don't settle! Don't get comfortable with things the way they are. Look around -- there are other options. First think about what interests you and go from there. If you don't like what you are doing, then you will never stick with it, no matter how much money you make doing it. You deserve better! You deserve a happy life! You deserve to see how it feels to be living right in the middle in that picture you pained of your life when you were younger!

My interest is travel and I did something about it. What interests you? Are you going to do something about it?