Over the past week or so we’ve talked about what you need to do (discipline) and who you need to become (the code) to accomplish them.

… but what about the actual goals?

Too often we write down the first goals that come to mind. They’re the goals we think we want to accomplish but we don’t give ourselves enough time to really determine whether or not they align with our idea of our ideal life.

You may, for example, write down that you want to gross $1,000,000 this year, or $300k or $500k, but does your idea of your ideal life actually require you to earn that much?

There’s a lot you can put, but what are the best things to put as your goals?

 In the 12 Virtues we talk about finding clarity a lot.

Clarity comes when you know who you are, who you want to become, and what your values are.

It’s also something we’re almost completely missing in a society where true originals are few, and options are seemingly endless. We’re pulled in so many directions, told many narratives, that we end up following something, someone, or an idea without giving much thought about whether we really want it or not.

I run into this a lot.

When you read a lot, when you work a lot, it can be difficult to decipher which desires and ambitions are yours, and which are someone else’s.

So how do we find clarity on what we really want to accomplish?

1. You have to spend a week and form your ideal life.

Spend time every morning or night crafting your ideal life. Where will you live? What will your house look like, feel like? Who will you live with? How many horses and dogs will you have? What will your routine be?

Craft the story that you want to write. Determine what your life will be like on a daily basis, your routine, then add in a completely different narrative of what you do for fun, your adventures, your hobbies and other pursuits.

Form the life and the persona that will make you happy, give you purpose, and most importantly make you excited to get to work.

Take a week. Don’t try and do this in one sitting.

2. Do the math.

Figure out how much money you’ll need to earn and save to create this life.

Keep in mind that stuff is useless. I don’t need a new truck. My truck is just fine. So a new truck doesn’t make it into my dream life because I simply don’t care that much about getting a new one. A ranch, however, is something I definitely do want, and I’ve looked at the areas where I’d like to buy, the land I want to have, and I’ve found the prices of ranches and ranch land, along with how much I would have to put down, upkeep costs, mortgage payments, and so forth.

What you’ll find is, when you’re focusing on the most important things in life, you actually need to make a little less than you may think. (Read This: How to Spend Your Money Like a Winner)

Of course, you want to make millions, but you can create your genuinely perfect life with much less. Money is a measuring stick for how good you are at what you do, it can give you freedom, but as soon as you make it your be all end all and you attach meaning to things, money becomes a burden, it’s becomes a trap.

3. Times it by ten.

Multiply both the amount and the goal by ten. Just because this is what you need to create what you want, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t aim for more.

More is better. More, as in, asking more of yourself. The greater the goal, the more excited you’re going to be about setting out to accomplish it.

Multiply both the life, the business goal, the income goal, the savings goal, and any other goal, by ten. Bigger is better when it comes to goals, as is shorter…(Read This: Before You Set Another Goal, Define Your Life)

4. Cut the time in half.

A year is too long. Five years is way too long. Aiming to achieve a MASSIVE goal in 6 months is scary, but it can often get accomplished if enough work is done. Actually, I’d say it’s more likely to get accomplished than an annual goal because 6 months enables greater clarity.

When you have a six month goal it becomes pretty clear as to what you need to do within six months to achieve it. Bringing it to 3 months doubles that clarity as you know precisely what you need to do and who you need to be to make this audacious life your reality.

I don’t have 2017 goals. I have goals that I will accomplish within six months, and others I’ll accomplish within three months.

When I set annual goals they never get accomplished, so I’m done with them. You should be too.

5. Figure out your ideal day with what you have and who you are right now.

With all of this daring ambition sprinkled into a goal-setting scenario, you also need to figure out what your ideal day is with what you have right now.

The ‘stuff’ you’re aiming to acquire really doesn’t matter. You should be able to live a great life with where you are right now. Greatness shouldn’t have to be something that you push into the future, that you have contingencies for.

When I get a million dollars, then I’ll live the life I want.

When I make a million bucks I’ll travel, write, live as ‘the man’.

That’s what we usually tell ourselves. Then a million bucks comes and we push it to two million, or 100 million, or a billion, and we spend our lives chasing a dollar amount when our ideal life, and our ideal self could have been realized on day one.

What’s your ideal day?

These steps should help you find clarity both in what you want to accomplish this year, who you want to become, eventually, and what your end game is.

Be daring. Be ambitious. But don’t wait to become the guy that these goals need you to become. Act like the billionaire now. Be the adventurer today.

About The Author

Chad Howse: Chad’s mission is to get you in the arena, ‘marred by the dust and sweat and blood’, to help you set and achieve audacious goals in the face of fear, and not only build your ideal body, but the life you were meant to live.

You can contact him at –
http://www.ChadHowseFitness.com/
https://www.Facebook.com/ChadHowseFitness
https://www.YouTube.com/ChadHowseFitness