Let’s start with a question…

Whats the biggest goal you’d like to achieve today?

A deeply personal goal which is the one which looms largest in your mind?

It might be to run a marathon. It might be to bring up your children to be decent adults. It might be to write a book. It might be to build and grow a business. It could be to achieve complete financial independence.

It will be something which scares you a little bit. It’ll definitely be something you know can be done…and know other people have done before. It will be something which you believe once achieved will give you either pleasure, a sense of achievement or help towards a feeling of wellness and security.

It will certainly be a goal which you need to work towards gradually and slowly….instead of completing immediately today. If it isn’t I’d suggest the goal isn’t big enough!

Now the reality is that all big ambitious goals take gradual smaller steps all moving towards the ultimate aim. It’s likely you’ll make mistakes along the way, it’s likely that at times it won’t feel achievable. It’s likely that it’ll feel tough to develop the right habits to achieve your ultimate goal.

If you’re running a marathon you start with a shorter run, and then get slowly longer as you get increasingly fitter until you’re at a point where the day arrives and you’re ready to race. All of the training and effort. All of those dark winter nights when you were running alone to prepare culminating in a few hours which would get you around the full 26 and a bit miles.

Even during the run at some point your body will probably tell you to stop. However you know you need to get all the way to the end….step by step remembering all of those nights where you were getting slowly fitter. Until you make it over the finish line!

Growing a business is the same. Often it grows more slowly than you think. Mistakes happen and your plan of a straight line of growth soon goes out of the window when life gets in the way….however you don’t give up and learn from your mistakes and slowly but surely you build a business you’re proud of.

Moving towards financial independence is exactly the same thing. You work out the figure you need to achieve financial independence (it’s probably a rather large number which might look a little scary!) and then you break this down into small bite sized chunks…

Applying taking the large goal and chunking it down is easy…but not simple!

First it starts with how much you need to be financial independent…the amount you require never to worry about money again (I’ll write more about how to work this out in a later blog)

and

Then you need to work out how much progress you’ve already made towards your goal. Take all of your pensions, investments and accumulated wealth and you’ll then be able to work out the ‘gap’….

Next you’ll need to work out what you need to do to fill this Gap. However instead of being a big hairy audacious goal….this will be what you need to do daily, weekly or monthly to achieve this goal.

You’ll have a timescale (usually up to an age you want to achieve financial independence by), a gap calculated based on your ‘number’ (the amount you need to be financially independent) and your current provisions…

This might start with paying off debt, or saving, or investing. However the focus at this point is not the big goal, but embedding the small action you’ll need to take every single day to achieve your ultimate aim.

Many of the clients we work with set themselves big goals be it to achieve financial independence, challenge themselves physically or focus on building their own businesses…

However all plans start in the same way…

Be it running a marathon, building a business they can be proud of or making sure they never run out of money again the process is usually the same…

You start with what you want to acheive.

Work out what resources which will currently help you do it…

….you’re then left with a gap.

and

Work out the action you need to take in order to get you there.

If you need any help doing any of these things, feel free to get in touch with us on 01708 606 202 or Hello@Cervellofp.co.uk