This Is How I Reached My Goals

Proven Behaviors, Tools and Tips to reach your goals

Creating a set of goals is relatively easy, actually achieving them is the hard part. The key to reaching goals is setting up a structure to support your efforts. Last year I researched tools, tactics and behaviors to support my goals Here’s what worked.

1. Self Journal

My Wife and I live by our Self Journals.

I start each day, by completely allocating my day, by 30 minute task increments. These tasks filter up to three wildly important goals I am working towards. I check my calendar for any meetings I have, and check my task list that I left for myself the night before. I then take a moment to write out three positive things that are happening in my life. I am not verbose in any of this, its mostly a few words and bullets.

2. Deep Work

Last year I read Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport and it profoundly changed how I approach my work. Newport defines two styles of work:

Deep Work: Professional activities, in a distraction-free environment that pushes your cognitive abilities

Shallow Work: Non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted

When scheduling my day, I focus my “deep” work in the morning between 7:30 and noon. I use this time to focus on my clients’ goals/problems/planning and developing solutions for them.

During my “deep work” I have several rituals to keep me focused:

• I put my phone on “Do Not Disturb“ mode.

• I pop in my ear buds and spin up a quiet acoustic guitar play list.

• I turn off all notifications on my laptop. I don’t check email, ESPN, the WSJ, Facebook or anything else.

• I wear a watch so that I can see the time at a glance and how I am progressing on my schedule.

• I keep my journal opened and beside my laptop so that I can be reminded of what I need to be doing, and for adding any to do’s as they pop into my head.

I normally have lunch at the end of my deep work session. And then shift over to my “shallow” work, where I focus on administrative tasks.

3. Rest

Another book that has been a big influence on my work is Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Pang.

Between 3pm and 8pm, I focus on what Pang would refer to as “rest”. My goal during this time, is to lose myself in the minutiae of daily life, clear my head. This is time for my subconscious to churn through my earlier work. I may take a walk around the neighborhood, workout at Decatur Crossfit, cook for the family and/or help the boys with homework.

I then close out the day, by listing out actions items and thoughts for picking back up the next day, in my Self Journal.

At the end of each week, I check my leading metrics (things that I can control, and will influence lag metrics, which are my goals). E.g., I want to get 30 new clients this year is a lag metric. Meeting perspective clients is a leading metric. And I take the opportunity to list out any wins/losses and lessons learned. I also take the time to update my score board, so that I have a reminder, both of my goals and how I fare as I am working towards them.

This may seem like a lot, but once you start seeing progress, its incredibly satisfying. And the tactics and planning have all been tried out and tested. It’s a great recipe for success.

Are you intentional in your daily routine, that has a proven track record of driving to success?

Why Thanksgiving is My Favorite Holiday

Thanksgiving is almost here! It’s my favorite holiday and features all my favorite things: Cooking, family, relaxing, wine, blazing fires, card games, pies, football and kids running and playing! No gift giving expectations, the weather allows plenty of outside time, and it’s a time to recognize the meaning that your friends and family bring to your life. Thanksgiving! I love every minute of it.

A big added bonus, for me, is that our family tradition is to host. My family comes in from Lake Ocononee and Rome, GA. My in-laws come in from Florida and Connecticut. And I savor the 3 or 4 days of the year that we are all together.

Did I mention that I love to cook and I’m head chef for ~20 people during our Thanksgiving visit? Yes, I cook 3-4 days for 20 people and I still have time to enjoy and savor the time with my family. What’s my secret? Planning. Yes, It’s all about creating a plan that fits our family’s needs, then following through with some hard work, while enjoying the process.

Josh Chamberlain’s Thanksgiving Plan

Saturday/Sunday

• Finalize the menu for the week

• Grocery shop at the YDFM

• Buy beer, wine and bourbon

Monday

• Audrey (my mother-in-law and sous chef) and I check for missing ingredients

• Make another run to the farmers market

• Start the pie dough

• Drink wine and relax

Tuesday

• Brine turkey

• Make pies

• Cook black eyed peas

• Drink wine

Wednesday

• Bake mac & cheese

• Cook greens

• Bake potatoes

• Roast brussel sprouts

• Audrey and I each make a soup for our yearly “Soup Off” (she normally wins)

• Attend neighbors pre-Thanksgiving party

Thursday

• Fry turkey

• Prime rib

• Roast Carrots

• Bake rolls

• Make the gravy

• Make Salad

• Savor the feast

• Watch football

• Drink wine

The kids love to help make whipped cream.

Friday

• Enjoy Leftovers

• Family hike

• Family pictures with Cathy Davis

Saturday

The weekend is only just beginning!!

It’s a plan with lots of room for a wonderful week with family and friends.

*Does anyone see the parallels to financial planning? If you want to talk turkey, contact me.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

How to Set Financial Goals as a Couple

9 Steps to Setting Family Financial Goals together As a Couple

It is important to set goals that you can work on as a couple. Being on the same page with your joint finances helps to strengthen your money situation and your relationship. As a follow up to How to Talk about Money with Your Spouse, we are taking things to the next level: Setting your family financial goals.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” -Pablo Picasso

1. Organize your goals by Time frame

I like to break goals into short, mid and long range time frames:

Short term goals: < 1 year

Mid term goals: 1 - 5 years

Long term goals: 10 - 20 years

2. What are Short term goals?

What is going on in your life, that needs to be immediately addressed? Maybe you have been putting off a house project, but you don’t know how to get started. Maybe you want to plan a family vacation, for some good quality time or you need to you have money sitting in an 401k from your last job and you need to roll it over but your not quite sure what to do with it.

Short term goals are generally fairly easy to envision. You know your current self, so you know what you need to do. However, writing down your short term goals and talking about them, will help in actually getting them done.

3. Mid term goals

Mid term goals tend to be a bit tougher than short term goals, because you know what they are, but you know it is going to take more time and effort to get there. You will need to monitor your progress and you will need a plan. Mid term goals are things like: Planning to start a family, paying down debt, saving up for a down payment on a house or switching careers in the next few years.

4. Long term goals

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”

-Napoleon Hill

While mid term goals are difficult because they require work, long term goals are more challenging because they seem ephemeral, variables can change as time passes and they are difficult to envision. You may not know what really matters to you, yet. You may foresee changes in the future that could impact your goals. Or maybe you just can’t imagine yourself in 10 years. Long term goals require some real thinking, discussion and envisioning. You may need to dig in and dream a little!!

5. Brainstorm, then compare notes

Now we have defined what we mean by the different time frames for goals. How do you actually have a discussion around your shared financial goals? First, realize that this discussion may prove to be harder than you thought. For example, you may find that your goals are not aligned (at all).

I am a fan of the sticky note method: Using sticky notes, spend 5 minutes separately jotting down as many short term goals as possible. Write it all down, even the absurd … brainstorming is not a time to “cull the herd”, dream a little and have fun!! Then come together and share your sets. As a team, now is the time to really start to evaluate what makes sense. It is also a time to stop and appreciate the unique perspective of your sweetheart. DON’T go about bludgeoning, like baby seals, your sweetheart’s ideas. Be open minded. Then iterate through mid and long term goals.

6. Don’t jump into solutioNing!!

The point of the discussion is to create a set of goals. A plan to accomplish those goals, should come after the set is created. Too often, a goal may be jettisoned early in the process because it may seem hard, or because there is no clear path to achieving it. Don’t let that hinder you. Goals are meant to be hard. They will force you to plan and work.

7. Prioritize

“Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, and underestimate what they can do in 10!”

-Bill Gates

It’s time to determine if the entire set is reasonable. If you believe you can reliably reach all of your goals, it’s possible you were not audacious enough. I say live a little, be bold!! If on the other hand, you have gone completely nuts, now is the time to start getting realistic. Start by deciding how much you have to fund your goals. Then break up the funding as a percentage of short/mid/long term goals. A good recommendation is: 25% - short, 35% - mid, 40% long term. Now is the time to edit, get rid of things that you can’t fund. Or deprioritize them to a future discussion. My mantra in these discussion is: if I can’t prioritize them now, maybe they are not really worth prioritizing at all. This is where the planning really comes into play.

8. Share your goals with friends and family

Now that you have your set of goals, unpack them in front of friends, at dinner or over drinks. How do they feel having rolled them around in your mouth, are you still resolute in what you have? Did you get any good opinions? Additions? Good Ideas? Do you now have some accountability partners? Did you inspire your friends to have a similar discussion? Incorporate good ideas into your plan. But don’t necessarily allow someone to dissuade you from something important.

9. Rejoice!

You made it through the discussion. Having these crucial discussions with your sweetheart will fundamentally strengthen your relationship. Too many times, we hold back, in order to not offend or hurt our significant others. When you shared insights with your friends, did the two of you have to work together defending your aspirations? Having struggled through the discussion, will ultimately make your relationship stronger.

Please don’t worry if you hit some road blocks during the discussion, I am here to help. This is tough to navigate on your own. Sometimes the issue is in getting an achievable list. Sometimes the struggle is coming up with the plan to reach the goals. Let’s set up some time to talk!

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