Get Clarity on Financial Goals

Our financial goals are waiting for us to get off the bench.

What good is it to practice a sport and not actually play the game? Don’t get me wrong; practice is where reflexes and muscles are built, but it is a means to an end.

A person who paper trades stocks and crypto will gain valuable skills from practicing, but it is not until they actually put real money into the market that they can produce actual profits.

Just like creating a budget sounds good, following it is what really matters.

People set goals all the time; however, studies show that the success rate for achieving goals is relatively low. According to one study by the University of Scranton, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s resolutions. It comes down to more than prioritizing the right things.

In order for financial goals to be achieved, they have to be attached to your values; otherwise, when the pursuit becomes different, you stop. It is easy to think about a desired outcome, but it requires effort to determine how to achieve it.

The gap between where we are now and where we want to be can be closed if you answer the three critical questions.

Who do I have to become to obtain my financial goals?

Wealth is created by becoming either an investor or an entrepreneur.

The good news is that you don’t have to pick one. Many successful people have become both.

They are all producers who supply value to the marketplace. God calls us to be producers. He created the world out of nothing, but he gave each of us the ability to make things out of other things.

This applies to both tangible and intangible things. In the parable of the Talents, Jesus teaches that God expects us to use our talents and resources to create something of value.

The servants who invested and multiplied their talents were praised and rewarded.

The wicked servant operated out of fear instead of purpose. He needed to remember who he was.

He was a steward that was fully capable of pleasing his master. He had full authority to carry out his duties but failed to walk in the fullness of who he was.

His master knew who he was and what he was capable of, but that didn’t matter to the servant.

Inside the servant’s mind, he felt unworthy of the responsibility he was given. This belief led the wicked servant to self-sabotage himself.

Inside his mind, he needed to shift his identity and align it with reality.

What it is that you believe to be true about yourself will have a profound effect on how you behave.

A person with a wealthy mindset believes that God is working in the background on their behalf. They have an understanding that they don’t know everything, but their capacity to grow is not limited.

Becoming a better person is not a one-time action, but requires persistent intentionality.

Proverbs 10:4 says Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

“Self-sabotage is the smartest thing you can do if you’re sabotaging a self that is not really you.” — Armand DiMele.

Christ has made us new creations, and we must walk in the truth of who we are, not who we once were.

The second question one must ask themselves is,

What do I have to do to become the person that reaches these goals?

James Clear says in his book Atomic Habits, “Success is the product of daily habits — not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.”

Identifying the skills needed to navigate a path to your goals is essential; some take different routes. One person may learn how to trade, while another learns how to build a business. When it comes to finances, having a solid understanding of how money works sets you up for success and supercharges your efforts.

Simply knowing what to do is not enough. Everyone knows that eating healthy and exercising prolongs life, yet in 2019, before the pandemic, a dietary survey by the CDC found that 90% of the US population had a poor diet, and 25% didn’t exercise.

Realistically, if we want to achieve our goals, we have to make it easier for us to do them. One must have the willingness to learn or act, and one must also have the capacity to do so.

Many kids desire to fly like an eagle or falcon but quickly discover they don’t have the right body to do so.

Learning and developing skills have to become a natural part of our routines if we desire to reach our goals.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” -James Clear, Atomic Habits

This leads to the third question:

Why do I want to reach these goals in the first place?

Who am I doing this for?

Money is a means to an end. Solomon reminds us in proverbs that it is our responsibility to leave an inheritance to our children and grandchildren.

God is concerned not only with the way we spend our time but also with the motives behind them.

Some people spend their whole lives seeking vanity. Ultimately, their life reads more like a tragic novel than a source of inspiration.

When we stop to consider why our financial goals exist in the first place, it fuels our desire to achieve them if we believe the cost is worth it.

Albert Einstein said “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it … he who doesn’t… pays it.”

In Atomic Habits, James Clear says, “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.”

Jesus asked the crowd once what does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul.

A person can travel the world and still be lost. Our goals must be more than dreams for us to experience, and those of us who build character can weather the storm when things seem to not be in our favor.

The longer it takes to answer these three questions, the more time is wasted aimlessly wandering the earth.

The good news is that the sooner you gain clarity, the faster you can see and walk with purpose.