As with any turn of the calendar, it wouldn’t be official without creating some goals first. It’s that time of the year where the gyms all suck to go to and you have to listen to every coworker, family member, and friend talk about their overly ambitious goal in which they will likely give up on in a month.
In all seriousness, writing goals is a skill and it is a practice often done by very successful people. The key is writing them down and keeping them SMART. I can hear my physical therapy professors cheering after that comment.
SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely
The key to completing these goals is persistence and routine. For example: I would much rather see person 1 go to the gym 5 times per week after work each day and have 5 decent workouts than see person 2 go to the gym 3 times per week whenever they can fit it in and get 3 great workouts in.
Person 1 is much more likely to continue towards their goals and is much less likely of burning out. Person 2 may lose more weight initially, but person 2 built a routine that is likely going to sustain them not just through the year but into the future. Person 1 changed their lifestyle while person 2 is likely only seeing the short term.
My Goals
1. Start a blog. NAILED IT!!
Okay, so I cheated on this one as I had already started the blog prior to posting this. I am that person who adds things to their check list or to do list that they have already accomplished just for the satisfaction of crossing it off. I know I am not alone on this!
This blog had been a thought in my head for over 4 months before I had the courage to take some actionable steps towards creating it. I feel bad for the people around me who had to listen to me talk about it for so long. The only things worse than listening to someone talk about their blog has to be listening to someone talk about a blog that doesn’t even exist yet.
Oftentimes goals like this can seem too large or daunting to accomplish, so it often helps me to break it down into bite size steps that takes some of the fear and anxiety away. It also makes it much more likely that you will complete your goal. Remember, focus on the process over the results.
For example, I could have broken this goal as such:
1. Buy a domain name: (This took far too long)
2. Lock up handles for Facebook, twitter, and instagram
3. Research formatting for a good blog
3. Write a blog article
4. Write 3 blog articles
5.. Download Word press
6. Purchase a hosting site
7. Pick a word press theme
8. Create Menu’s
9. Release at least 1 blog article every week
10. And so on and so forth
Starting a blog has many steps to it, but when a separate goal can be simple like buying a domain name, these actionable steps become much more manageable and leave us much more likely to accomplish these goals.
2. Reach $100,000 in net worth through income and investments.
This should be very realistic as I was able to save over $50,000 in less than a year up to this point so I may adjust this goal in the future. However, as of writing this, the Dow continues to tumble and I continue to cry when I log into to my Vanguard account. I have lost over 8.8 % of my investments to date.
Admittedly, I check my account daily which is definitely an unhealthy practice. However, I understand how safe index fund investing and unless the world ends, my money will rebound just as the market has since it’s inception. If you can’t handle this fear or ride this wave, do not view your account during these times.
Try to continue to buy, buy, and buy some more. Who doesn’t love a good fire sale, especially at the beginning of my acquisition phase.
3.Max out my Traditional IRA, and start/max out an HSA
“Wait, what about your 401k?”
I realize I didn’t list this account and this is because at the moment, I do not have access to a 401k due to the frequency in which I change jobs and traveling physical therapy companies. In the future, I plan to show more consistency with travel companies to work towards starting this tax-free bucket.
Currently, my excess savings/investments goes into a brokerage account through Vanguard. I actually prefer investing in a brokerage account early in my investment career.
4.Buy one rental property near the area I grew up
This has been a goal for mine for the last few months. Currently, I am in the learning phase of buying real estate but I am nearing the point of analyze paralyze. I understand at some point I am going to have to jump in head first and learn by trial through fire.
I have been wanting to diversify my portfolio some and I see no better way to do so than by beginning to attempt to create some form of passive income. This goal has many smaller step by step goals but I plan to document my real estate journey once it gets closer to occurring.
This is definitely my big scary goal so I knew I needed to document it here to hold me accountable and hopefully give me the push I need to continue.
5. Meditate for 10 minutes once per week
I have been learning more about meditation and it’s benefits recently. I figured I would start very small with this goal which then allows me to have a window to expand if I notice any positive affects in my own life.
I think meditation gets a bad rep and if you’re like me, all you can think of is Chris Farley in Beverly Hills Ninja flying around the clouds during his out of body experience with meditation. Truth be told, my mind often runs a mile per minute so incorporating some mindfulness may be just what I need to calm my brain some.
5. Reach a new PR with all of fitness goals
One of my biggest hobbies, stress reducers, and forms of socialization is fitness. I feel better when I work out and I enjoy the personal challenges that working out brings. However, I know that I can definitely continue to push past my current capacity but sometimes I find myself hitting that mental wall more than the physical one.
I’m not big on numbers person with fitness as I am more about personal self image but I feel that PRs are the only way to make this goal measurable. I tossed around the idea of body fat percentage but currently don’t have a reliable way to measure this. This may however be added in the future.
-Perform 20 full pull ups without rest
-Bench press 245#, current max is 225#
-Squat 350#, current max is 325#
-Deadlift 325#, current max is 275#
-Run a 7 minute mile…current PR: who knows, I hate running. Like with a passion hate running but this is still something I want to accomplish… I think
That’s all for now. I think these should keep 2019 plenty busy for me. Let me know what your personal goals for 2019 are below!
