Setting Life Goals - Goal Setting Worksheet

I cannot stress enough that this is the first and the most important tool in managing your personal finances. "You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, 'cause you might not get there." (Yogi Berra) This table breaks your life into 7 goal setting segments and you set short, medium and long term goals for each facet of your life.

This is important for your finances as they are (a) only a part of your life and (b) a means to an end for the other facets of your life. Your personal life plan is the personal part of personal finances. Properly managed, your money allows you to pursue success in your other life focuses. The goal is to do things that fulfill your life and make you happy. With a personal life plan you know what to spend your money on to make you happy and not waste it on those that don't.

You can download, fill in and print this Excel 2003 document or download, print and fill in this life goals speadsheet. It opens in another window so that you can look and fill it in and still have access to the coaching on this page.

The seven categories are down the column side. Think about each of these facets of your life and what you want your life to be. You only get what you want if you ask for it.

Spiritual…It does not matter what your beliefs are, you will have things that you wish to do spiritually. For many this is the bottom line for defining their life.

Family…Everyone has a family. So define what you want your family to be and then do what is appropriate to make it so.

Emotional…It is quite Freudian that you can control your emotions with your rational self.

Career…Ambition and Prestige are reasons for having a career. This is very fulfilling for a lot of folks so you need to plan your path and execute your plans.

Finances…You need to manage your finances properly. You need to have plans and goals.

Social…Humans are a social species. This aspect of life is often tied in with family life.

Physical…Health and Fitness are very important to the enjoyment of life. Plan activity into your schedules that keep you at the top of your capabilities.

There are short medium and long term goals that you will set. Short term is 6 months to a year, medium term is 1 to 5 years and long term is 5 years to lifetime. Identify what you can change in each facet of your life to be closer to who you would like to be in an ideal world. For the short term set goals that are achievable in the short term. Then do the same for medium and long term goals. The medium term goals should be vaguer than your short term goals but clearer than you long term goals. You long term goals should be very general. The best description is that it is like being out on a flat country road where there are telephone posts for miles. You can see the closest poles very clearly but the further away they are the more blurred and run together they become. When setting your goals envision this perception.

Once you have this done, your budgets and balance sheets will make more sense. You can set your financial goals to paper and see how they fit with the rest of your life. Hopefully this will calm you down because you will understand that your life is not over.

Download this spreadsheet Setting Life Goals Spreadsheet

If you want to read up on how to fill out the life plan buy this book and read Chapter 4. Sometimes the best way to give personal financial coaching is to recommend the best to you and then get out of the way. That is what is happening here.

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