Top Investing Mistake #7: Not having a Specific Goal
If you ask people about improving their financial situation, they usually say something like,
I wish I had a little more money.
Have you ever heard anyone say this? They think their financial goal is “a little more money.” But this is not a goal at all. This is just an impotent wish.
Wishes and hopes and desires are faint yearnings that come and go like a breeze. We feel like we want something, and then we never seem to get it. Goals are made of very special and different stuff. Goals are something that we are certain about. Goals have a specific number that we attach to them. Goals create a concrete crystal clear vision inside our mind. When we have a goal defined with precision, we can think of specific steps that we will take to achieve it.
How does this apply to money?
If we are going to achieve anything in life, we need specific goals. This applies to our financial goals and improving our economic situation. We need a precise measure of how much our net worth is going to be, or how much money we are going to make each year, month or hour. Anything as imprecise as “more money” is just a hope.
Charging by the hour acts as a goal. Did you notice that the highest paid professionals get paid in the smallest increments of time? Lawyers charge by the hour (or minute, if they are really expensive). Doctors get paid by the visit (usually about 5 minutes). Wage slaves get paid every two weeks, but calculate on an annual basis. $50,000 per year may sound like a lot of money, but really is nothing because at the end of the year we are left with only credit card debt, a pounding headache and a nasty hangover.
Yet setting a specific financial goal is not a particularly difficult thing to do. We can all decide to make a certain amount of money next year, or have a certain net worth by a certain time. It sounds easy, so most people never bother to do it. But successful goal achievers know that we need to set up the game so that we win. And choosing a specific number as a goal is a great first step to winning the game of finance.
Related posts:
- Top Investing Mistake #12: Not Connecting to your Highest Goal
- Top Investing Mistake #11: Not Deciding to be Rich
- Top Investing Mistake #2: Failure to Launch
- Top Investing Mistake #4: Not Getting Enough Information
- Top Investing Mistake #14: Not Managing your Effort
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is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
