The goal is to be clear
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” —Carl Jung
In this one:
A new filter for your goals
Take one goal & do this with it
Clear goals + intense action = ________
Warning: The word ‘goal’ appears 44 times in this edition - not my intention.
EXPLAINER
Investing for life, pt. 4: What your goals say about you
Over the past few weeks, I’ve armed you with some foundational knowledge around investing.
At a high level, I’ve given you perspective and ideas on reviews, philosophy, strategy and planning in that order.
The next step is…not a high yielding investment product, but your goals.
I’m sure you already have goals in place. So I’m just going to give you some things to consider as far as investing and goals go.
Understand the purpose behind your goals
There is an interplay between your goals and your philosophy. Ensure that you are always aware of what guides your goals so that your decisions have a firm basis.
Being clear about your investment philosophy gives you a great filter through which to look at and understand the rationale behind your goals. Are the goals you have set truly yours?
Ask why you want to achieve them and ask another ‘why’ to the answer? Going to the third degree with this makes things even clearer if you’re completely honest with yourself.
You will never know you’ve arrived if you don’t know where you’re going in the first place.
Find alignment between financial and life goals
Investing is about making thoughtful choices that maximize outcomes in every area of your life.
It’s on you to ensure that your financial goals reflect what matters to you. Acknowledge the sacrifices that you may need to make early so that you quickly get past any resistance you face from yourself along the way.
Setting financial goals without aligning them with life goals risks becoming an endless, pointless activity. One that never really amounts to any meaningful fulfilment or change beyond owning more stuff. Aligning life & financial goals should be an enjoyable exercise you do on a regular basis.
Track progress with a willingness to adapt
Those who refuse to track progress do so because they wrongly think goals are static. It’s either that or laziness.
Priorities and strategies change over time, just like life circumstances and phases. Tracking progress informs action and many times, that action is contingency. This is because plans don’t always go according to plan. And when your outcomes are dependent on a global financial system, you really must have contingencies in mind because at a global scale, anything can happen.
You will get used to adapting and adjusting your goals if you track progress against them regularly.
And then what?
True financial success lies not in amassing more money than you know what to do with, but in using money to amplify purpose and joy in the life you have.
Be clear why you’re doing what you’re doing. Don’t just invest because Alice said she invests. Don’t just hold an arbitrary number in your mind as a ‘goal’ without thinking through what that number means to you in practical terms.
If you're not aware of the stories that drive you, you’re living on autopilot, attributing outcomes to chance. This is low agency.
Be an active participant in the direction your life is headed, otherwise life will happen to you.
Why are clear goals important? Because they help you act in a certain way as you try to achieve them. Repeated actions form identity.
Like it or not, investments are a big part of your entire life. Many of your goals will only become possible as a result of how you invested your money, time and energy. Approaching your goals with the lens of an investor will grant you the opportunity to live a more interesting and meaningful life.
QUICK ONE
An exercise for your goals
Constraints breed creativity.
Let’s do a quick exercise because clarity comes from reflecting on what matters most.
Pick one of your current multi-year goals and write it down.
Let’s see how they work for or against your investments.
Remember why the goal is important to your life (why, why, why you must achieve it)
Estimate the financial resources needed (check how clear you are on this)
Determine how long until you reach the goal (are you on track?)
Check how and whether your current investments support the goal (be honest)
Identify the gaps & possible fixes (remember contingencies)
Look for anything that has or could slow down progress & address them
You don’t invest just to give yourself comfort in ‘having some money tucked away somewhere’. You invest to eventually live the life you want. Be clear about this.
Having a goal is one thing. An important step many miss is mapping out the steps to achieving the said goal and thinking about ‘what ifs’.
STORY
Goals shape perception, perception shapes reality
A goal is something you aim at. An intention. A desired state.
A goal is a problem to be solved.
As humans, we find a lot of joy in solving problems. Better still, those that have a great connection to ourselves. It’s how we are wired.
When a problem occupies your mind, it starts to shape what you see. You know this.
When you set a goal, like getting a car or a house, you see cars and houses differently. You have experienced this.
The "Baader-Meinhof phenomenon" or "frequency illusion," is where your brain becomes more attuned to a specific thing because you're actively thinking about it, making it seem more prevalent than it actually is; essentially, you're "seeing what you want to see."Now, you can leave things at this level and get a small kick of motivation each time you are reminded of the thing you’re after, or you could use this to your advantage and take a chance at getting outsized returns.
Immersing yourself deeply in the things you are pursuing, for a period of time, will give you clarity and conviction much faster.
This is because knowledge also shapes perception.
When you know more about a thing you will make more informed decisions about the thing.
If you have a goal, you can stay on the surface and work towards it at that level or you could choose the high agency path. The uphill path.
Learn deeply about the things that surround, connect and contribute to the things you want. This will change how you perceive your goals and what it takes to achieve them. It will alter your outcomes.
The challenge is that many people imagine that the same person who sets the goals is the same person who will achieve them. Many forget that goals require growth. Growth requires more knowledge.
To realize goals, you are trying to get something you don’t yet have. This means that there is work involved in closing the distance between your current state and your desired state.
Goals catalyze your evolution.
Who you become on the way is the true prize.
Achieving a goal is a windfall.
Becoming ‘that person’ is an investment that will keep paying dividends.
Train yourself to understand things that are outside of your areas of competence and you will see the world differently. Every time. Almost as significant as seeing a new dimension.
The goal is to be clear.
Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.
–Maya Angelou
Do you want it all? You can have it all.
It takes work, and some luck.
Work creates luck.
AG
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This gave me an incredible opportunity to assess my biggest multi-year life goal at the moment in real-time. I'll be back to the "Quick One" section questions 5 and 6 now that I'm paying even more attention to obvious and not-so-obvious obstacles to my goals.
There are so many gems in the explainer but this one sums everything up. "True financial success lies not in amassing more money than you know what to do with, but in using money to amplify purpose and joy in the life you have."