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What Will It Take to Achieve Your Goals?

We all have goals and dreams in life.  Maybe we don’t give them much thought, or perhaps they are the driving force behind getting out of bed every day.  I’m sure we can all think back to being a small child and thinking, “When I get older, I’m going to…”  I remember for me it was “I want to be a school teacher.”  That dream was so big that I would teach my dolls and stuffed animals.  When my baby brother, who is ten years younger, came along and then later my sister, they became my students.  As toddlers, I would get them to sit in a chair while I wrote stuff on a chalkboard.  Their attention span would last long enough to satisfy my need to teach for the moment, but it was a regular activity in our house.  They were willing because they enjoyed the time we spent together, and I felt like I was *teaching* them.  As I got older, I let go of that dream when I began high school classes for office management.  I found that I loved balance sheets and general ledgers; I loved seeing how money was spent and charts defining where the money went.  It was natural that when I began working soon after we were married that I pursued a job in office management.

What came as a surprise to me was being a homeschool mom, effectively becoming a teacher to my children!  It seemed to all come full circle when we decided that I would stay home and teach our children.  I also became a home manager, keeping our finances in check and making our budget work on one income.  I can’t say that was ever our goal; if you’ve read any of our stories, you may know that we never expected to have children.  However, we had always lived on one income and saved my income as an emergency fund.  We did use it for funding a yearly vacation.  We occasionally used it if needed for unexpected expenses, but our goal was to always operate on a single income.  Our parents had lived on one income most of our lives, and we were keenly aware of the hardships that could happen.  We are nearing the end of our homeschool days; we were blessed to have managed me being home since they were born.  No matter my feeble attempts, they have become successful students as well.  Teaching and Money Managing goals accomplished!  Of course, I had to have willing and accepting students, my husband had to be ready to work, and I had to be willing to commit.

In every session, I ask my clients- What are your goals?  What are your dreams?  Where would you like to be in five, ten, or twenty years? What do you want to do before your children are grown and on their own? Do you plan to continue in the same day-to-day grind?  Do you plan to be still renting, paying a mortgage, or living with your family?  Do you plan to always pay for a new vehicle, paying on student loans or credit cards?  Do you want a new career, more income, or to retire?  If you take a moment to let yourself dream for a moment like a ten-year-old with life before you, what would be your goals in life?  What would ten-year-old you tell the person you are today?  Are you happy where you are?  Do you have bigger dreams and goals than you did when you were ten?

 I know for myself my plans have changed depending on the season I was in.  My 20+-year-old self was chasing a career, trying to climb the career ladder, and building our first house.  My 30+-year-old self just wanted to succeed at being a new stay-at-home Mom and building our second house. My 40+-year-old self wanted to finish homeschooling strong, and you guessed it – found us building our third house!  Now that we are nearing the end of homeschool, my goals are again changing.  We are looking at my husband’s retirement and what we want life to look like once our kids are on their own!  My ultimate goal is always the same, to finish strong.  I have some ideas of things that I’d like to accomplish.  I have this hobby of looking for a house to flip, I’d like to be more supportive to our community, I want to help our children through college, and I’m looking to maximize our retirement goals.  None of those things can happen without a plan.

No matter what phase of life we are in, we need to have goals, dreams, and a desire to finish strong.  We need to ask ourselves what that means and list what we need to do to make those goals happen.  Sometimes we may take on a task that is daunting and scary.  When we decided that I would become a stay-at-home parent, it was terrifying because we had a back-up income since the second year of our marriage.  If one of us had lost our job, we could have made it on one income and vice-versa until the other found a new job.  We had always been mindful of our expenses and kept a fairly tight budget, but the idea of permanently losing an income was scary!  All of those thoughts of “what if” were there, and we had a baby in the equation!  Here is what we now know on the other side: if you have a will to make it, you will find a way.  You aren’t going to become homeless without a fight, you aren’t going bankrupt without a fight, and you won’t be without a job without a fight.  Now, let’s apply that to retirement, a new career, a new home, becoming debt-free… You name the goal and decide what it will take? 

Telling yourself that you can’t, well, you probably never will.  It is when you decide that You Can and that You Are going to is when You Win.  Deciding that your goals, dreams, and desires are worth it is when you begin to achieve what you are meant to be and do with your life.  If you desire to be a teacher, then do it.  If you want to be a stay-at-home parent, do it!  Whatever your goals are, please make a list to see them in writing, post them on a goal board, on your fridge, in your office, on your mirror wherever that list will inspire you every day to be the best you can be.

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