Balancing Act

I am still finalizing what my personal and business goals are for 2012 (I know, it is March already) and trying to define a 5-ish year vision of what I’d like my life to look like.  I have to say that it is sometimes difficult to prioritize things with a balance between “accumulation” and “performance” with “simplicity” and “gratitude”. 

There are moments when I want to focus on the growth of my business and expansion of my financial capacity.  Then there are other moments when I want to focus on de-cluttering my life and keeping focused on all the great things that have nothing to do with money or with my business. 

I’ve found in my life that when the two pursuits of business/personal verge on becoming mutually exclusive, that’s when there’s a problem.  When I’ve felt that my business goals have complemented my personal goals and vice versa, with neither one interfering with the attainment of the other, I’ve been the happiest. 

So I’ve started incorporating a goal-setting process that is NOT compartmentalized.  If I want some achievement in my business I’ll ask myself how it will affect the goals I have for my family, my health, my faith, and my friends.  And if I want to be a better husband and father and have more fun I’ll ask myself how it will affect the goals I have to build a better business and financial situation to support those goals in the first place.  In doing so I find that my goals become more holistic, more descriptive, more focused,  and more desirable.   

I think this is because tying financial goals to the results I want in my non-financial life gives more meaning and perspective to the goal in the first place.  Having a goal of $X in 20 years is not the same as having a goal of financial protection against the effects of a long-term illness, or a desire to start a charity, or a desire to provide home down payments for children when they turn 30. 

Finding and staying in balance is difficult, but feeling like you are the boss of your money is a much better way to live than the alternative.  Getting to that point of confidence requires bridging the gap between money pursuits and non-money pursuits.  So if you can build financial goals in the context of what life-element or emotional benefit those goals bring to you, I’ll bet you’ll be more committed and focused on doing what’s necessary to accomplish them and you’ll find better balance in the process. 

Achieving Financial Goals - A How-To Guide

1.       Goals:  have them.

2.       Try NOT to have a dollar-value goal (I can’t stand the “my retirement number” commercials).  Can’t we be honest about that and admit that no one’s crystal ball is that clear?  Why limit yourself?

3.       Define your financial goals by what you want them to do for you.  Instead of “save $50,000”, try “be free of credit card debt and have 9 months of income saved in a savings account”. 

4.       Make a bucket list.  Seriously, it’s the #1 way to sustain financial motivation.

5.       Success doesn’t stem from the big gestures as much as the small and incremental financial habits that accumulate into significance.

6.       Be optimistic, grateful, and giving. 

7.       Read financial stuff, but preferably not blogs or magazines that try and sell you which specific mutual funds or stocks are best.  Try The Economist, or books by Jean Chatzky, or  Seth Godin’s blog, or books by Ric Edelman as starters. 

8.       Be mindful of the impact that downside risk has on your long-term financial success.  Having proper insurance, defenses against investment volatility, and proper tax management strategies are no less important than annual investment return performances in preparing for better long-term success.