While attending a virtual conference this week, I heard Bob Veres (an author, editor and influencer in financial planning for decades) talk about goal listing as a technique to use in working with financial planning clients. The idea was to write down 30 goals, recognizing that coming up with the last 10 would likely be difficult. Even so, don’t cheat. Cheating would be turning a single goal like “eat more vegetables” into multiple goals “eat more carrots”, “eat more lettuce”, “eat more asparagus”. Bob claimed that, when clients came up with their lists, then went about their lives for three months, they would return having achieved a bunch of the things on their lists, without any intervention on his part. Neat trick, isn’t it?

But 30 of them?

Normally, I would resist the very idea of creating a laundry list of goals—too many choices are overwhelming. I’ve suffered from a lack of bandwidth for years. One of my hacks for battling it has been paring down my priorities. And this strategy has worked for me.

Still, there is something inspiring about listing those goals. Well, with 30 of them, we’re moving from Goals with a capital “G” into mini-goals. Forgive me Bob, you may not have intended your technique to be interpreted this way! While streamlining my priorities to make life today more manageable, I’ve pushed out, probably to be forgotten, some of my mini-goals. Not a bad thing—I have plenty of ideas about things I could or should or want to do, some of which are just as well forgotten, set free to float in the ether. Many of these mini-goals should be put aside to best use my time today or this week. But maybe, with a nice long list, I’d find some goals that I can pursue right now, during COVID-19. And wouldn’t that improve my quality of life? By merely bringing these goals back into our conscious minds and writing them down, we may achieve some of them. A 2015 research study by psychologist Gail Matthews showed that, when people wrote down their goals, they were 33% more likely to achieve them than people who thought about goals but didn’t write them down.

The paradox

There’s a paradox between what I typically do as a financial planner and having clients write a list of 30 goals. Much of financial planning is helping clients prioritize what they most value in life. In many cases, this leads to a conversation on the necessity of choosing between the things we value. For example, the client may have to choose between a higher paying, more stressful job and a lower paid position which allows more time for the rest of life. Often it is having to reconsider the trade-offs between what seems secure and what will allow us to achieve a dream. But it’s all about picking and choosing and ranking various priorities…or goals. So what’s up with asking people to write down 30 of them? That would be a nightmare to prioritize!

I’m going to make the case that this list of goals and mini-goals is different than our shorter list of life goals. For financial planning and life satisfaction purposes, your values and beliefs will be the guiding principles that determine how you want your life to look. This, in turn, will lead to your overarching goals for the creation of a lifestyle that is consistent with those values and beliefs. Metaphorically, this is the house you want to build. And to build it, you’ll make decisions about what to prioritize first, second, or not at all. In contrast, much of this list of 30 goals is mini-goals, the bricks you’ll use in building your house. Yes, they’re contributing factors in creating the life you want, and need to be in keeping with your values and beliefs. But they are the individual building blocks that will together be used to build the house.

The Magic is in the Writing

We’re not going to be too systematic or structured about our approach here—it’s for fun and to enhance quality of life. (If you want to go deep, Jack Canfield has written and spoken extensive on goals). Merely spending 20 minutes imagining all of the things you would like to do, have or achieve is pretty entertaining. Trust me, stop rolling your eyes, it will be fun! Get out your pen and paper or tablet or laptop and start writing. Don’t stop until you reach 30 goals. That’s it—the magic is in the writing. If you feel inspired to take the list out and look at it on a regular basis, you can. One of my clients posted hers on her refrigerator! But there is no particular follow-up required. Write the list and, in three months, we’ll see if anything has come of it.

I’m trying this experiment on myself and with my clients. Want to join us? Get busy writing that list and mark your calendar 90 days from now. We’ll check back in then to see where we are.

Need some help preparing for the future you envision? Give me a call (336-701-2612) or send me a message.

Investment advisor representative of and investment advisory services offered through Garrett Investment Advisors, LLC, a fee-only SEC registered investment advisor. Tel: (910) FEE-ONLY. Fair Winds Financial Advice may offer investment advisory services in the States of North Carolina and Texas and in other jurisdictions where exempted.