Endings are New Beginnings
We’re in the final quarter of 2021 and we’re still choc full of craziness with the remnants of the pandemic. Crazy to think we are still here a year and some change later! Continue to be safe, keep your mental strong, your spirit calm, and up the ante on your health if you must, until we are out of these uncertain times.
October is the beginning of the final quarter. It’s the time to start reflecting and also looking ahead to 2022 in terms of starting new goals. If you haven’t started writing down your goals for next year, at least start thinking about what you want to accomplish.
How to be a Goal Achiever
In my book, How To Be A Goal Achiever, I designed a goal setting system so that you can organize and strategize your goals by taking one big goal, one you believe you can accomplish within a year’s time, and breaking it into smaller quarterly goals. Goal setting is a system. You have to have a goal, execute it, and measure it—it’s success or failure.
It’s one thing to write our goals out in one long shopping list, but if you don’t have a plan on how to achieve your goals, you’re just writing a wish list.
They say nothing easy comes without sacrifice, hard work, persistence, and consistency. My system works because I actually used it.
Started from a Spreadsheet now a Book!
What began as an Excel spreadsheet became a book. I took my long list of goals I wanted to accomplish and organized them.
Reviewing my list, I asked myself what was a reasonable time frame to achieve one of my many goals? You have to have a deadline or target date on your goals. It will change the trajectory, it will motivate you to make that deadline, i.e., get you into action. For me, 12 months seemed reasonable.
I came out of a financial hardship after taking the leap to work for myself full time back in 2015. A layoff in 2012 gave me time to rethink my future, and so I worked contract positions via employment agencies for 2 years, and on and off during the time I worked for self, I would take on part time contracted positions to supplement my income. From 2012 - 2017 it was a struggle to say the least, starting a business, marketing the business, getting clients, rinse and repeat. I made certain sacrifices. Working for self the income was no longer conducive to my cost of living. I downsized from 4.5 bedroom townhouse to a 2.5 bedroom apartment and sold my jeep.
I had one client who was on contract, ending in the summer of 2017 without knowing if come next concert season they would renew the contract for my PR services. I basically had one form of income that barely covered the rent. Payments to credit cards had to seize. Those cards were my saving grace and helped me pay bills and put food on the table.
For 8 months, I couldn’t pay those cards back and decided to put a pause on the business and start looking for full time employment. I can’t tell you how many rejections I received. But I persevered and by the fall of that year, I landed a job and the client renewed my contract.
One thing about creditors, if you’ve been a customer in good standing, one who paid your bills on time, and kept them abreast of your financial changes, they will work with you on a repayment plan. Granted, there were charge offs now listed on my credit report and my credit took a dive down to the 500s.
After establishing a payment plan with those creditors I kept a very detailed Excel spreadsheet listing every debt, the outstanding balance, listed in priority of which creditor to pay off first, the monthly payments (to see how much money I was throwing away paying off debt—talk about an eye opener), and how long it would take me to be debt free. I gave myself 5 years, and a 12 month goal within each of those 5 years.
I had four main goals I wanted to accomplish within those 5 years and had to prioritize the order in which I would achieve them:
Pay off a debt
Start a 3 – 6 month savings plan
Write a book
Buy property
By the end of 2019 I paid off half of my debt and simultaneously started a savings plan - my goal was to save $10,000 in 18 months and I met that goal in the spring of 2021. I would eventually pay off my debt in the fall. Four years after I set that 5 year goal! I did a mock up of the book and published it in March of this year, and lastly, began the housing process.
Each of those goals were the 12 month goal I broke into smaller quarterly goals. The 12 month goal being the “big picture goal” (buy they book you’ll understand).
“If You Want to Fly Give Up Everything That Weighs You down.”
What are you willing to give up in order to achieve your goals? Can you make certain sacrifices? How important to you are your goals? It won’t be easy. There were days I broke down thinking I would never get to where I am today. I sacrificed a WHOLE lot! I’m still without a car because once I paid off my debt, I became a smart and careful shopper thereafter.
Trust me, there are days I wish I had my Jeep! But when I thought about leasing or financing one, I just couldn’t fathom increasing the debt I had just paid off. Thus, why I decided instead of saving toward a car, save toward some property, and so the car would continue to wait until I could buy one with cash.
The point of me sharing this, is that I wrote the book from a system that helped me, so that it may help you create a strategy with your goals, and to take small steps toward that big goal.
So…what are you waiting for? Start your 2022 goals and buy the book! It’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Bookbaby.
Be great…be a goal achiever!
XO ~ Gillian
