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Goal setting is an essential component of our No Spend Challenge, and a powerful tool for experiencing what is most important to you. When you imagine what you want your life to be like and what you want to achieve, these images will become the basis of your life and financial goals. That’s why it’s so important to align your money goals with your values.
Also, when you translate those images into words and write them down, your goals will become clearer and more compelling.
• Goals create a positive outcome of the future
• Goals stimulate personal growth and development
• Goals help you to focus on the desired result and provide the motivation you need to bounce back from setbacks and disappointments
• Goals that are inspiring and purposeful will keep you on track and help you avoid distractions
Despite these important benefits, many of us are reluctant to set goals. Nonetheless, goal setting is an essential component of your money plan. When you clarify what is important to you and what you want your life to be like, you can move toward those desires in an intentional way.
Therefore, it is important to adopt a fresh perspective on goal setting and to set life and financial goals that are based on your values and priorities.
The greater your understanding of what is important to you, the easier it will be to “paint a picture” in your mind of what you are working toward. Whatever you identify and claim for yourself will become the basis for aligning your life and financial goals.
In her book, The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist wrote: “When you let your money move to things you care about, your life lights up. That’s really what money is for.”
Align Your Money Goals And Values
Download the form and complete the exercise.
• Make a list of your top 3 values (take these from the values exercise you did yesterday).
• Make a list of 3 goals for this year.
• Match the goals with the values.
Note: The objective is to only have values-based goals this year. If you have a goal that does not fit with one of your top 3 values, either adapt the goal to fit the value or get rid of it and come up with another. Don’t adapt the value to the goal. And only have one goal per value. You are using your values as the reference point in your life — not your goals. And, that is what makes this process so exciting!
The above steps can be used for anything you want to tackle in your life, not just your money situation, but for the purpose of this exercise, I’d like your goals to be money based.
If you need help in how to write an effective goal, please read: 7 Tips for Creating Powerful Goals
Your values, goals, and plans all need to be in alignment and based on what you, not someone else, values the most.
For those of you who are married, you and your partner might find that after you each separately completes this task, you don’t value the same things. It may become clearer and clearer why you can’t seem to get on the same page with one another. The key is to find how to balance your values with your partners’ so that your financial plan is in sync with what you both want.
Keep these goals in a notebook. We’ll refer back to them later in the Challenge.
If you decide at any point that a goal needs to be revamped or updated, feel free to do that at any point during the Challenge. Remember, the most important point is to align your money goals with your values so, in the end, you’ll have the perfect starting point to determine how you’ll manage money and live your life so you’re what you want.
