Money Obedience

This is the time of year when many bloggers write about New Year’s Resolutions. (Moolanomy, Get Rich Slowly, Brunette on a Budget, Frugal Dad, My Two Dollars, and The Frugal Momma.) I am not exactly joining that chorus, but I want to share with you what my goals are anyway. Even though I plan to achieve these goals in 2009, that is purely coincidental. I formulated these goals a while ago, and I don’t have a January 1 start date for working on them, so they really cannot be New Year’s Resolutions.

Why don’t I make New Year’s Resolutions? Suffice it to say that my track record of keeping such resolutions is less than perfect – it doesn’t matter whether I pick the new calendar year, Chinese New Year (don’t know when it starts anyway), or Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year). But I still like to set goals for myself, and try to live by them. So I set goals throughout the year without regard for any calendar.

There are a few things that make goals attainable, and I make sure to put these in when I create goals for myself. First, I make sure my goals are clearly defined. (You know, instead of saying “I’ll lose weight” I would say “I will lose about 10 pounds next year.) Then, I also make sure to have a date in mind to check on how I’m doing in reaching my goals. (To continue with the example, I’d say “I need to lose about a pound each month” so then I know that if I’ve lost no weight by March 1, I’m really getting off track.) If one of these elements is missing, either a set outcome, or a set of date-related milestones, then my goal is not likely to be as attainable. Instead of a goal, those missing elements leave me with a vague plan of what I think I should be doing.

So, here we go. You need to know that I’m a runner, if you don’t already know this. My first goal is to run a marathon faster than three hours. I am pretty close to reaching this goal, and I hope that I can break the three hour mark on April 20th at the Boston Marathon. But I plan to run a couple other marathons in 2009, so I have other chances to do it, but that’s not really my goal. I will focus on breaking three hours in Boston in April. If I fail there, I will set a new goal, a “Plan B,” if you will. I will see on April 20th whether I have achieved this goal as it stands right now.

My other goal is to, by June 30th, reach a certain amount of subscribers to the service we offer on vilkri.com - setting up a budget. (I hope you understand if I do not specify the exact number.) You see, I think we offer a service that can really help underserved people get a grip on their personal finances. In financially trying times like the current ones I think it is even more important than ever to act in a responsible way with money. Our service is built around users who want to improve their circumstance. My goal is to introduce a certain amount of users to our service because I expect will benefit greatly from using it. As with my other goal, I will decide on a “Plan B” if we don’t reach our number by June 30th.

I have been working on both of these goals for a while already. Several weeks ago I started my marathon training program. I have also been working on establishing our website on the internet by working with an Search Engine Optimization (SEO) system that already has yielded some good results. So I am already making efforts to reach my two major goals in the near future. I am not starting on January 1st.

My most important financial goal is also easily defined. I want to create an income stream that provides me with enough income to maintain my family’s lifestyle before the summer. (For those new to the blog, I recently lost my job.) I am not sure yet whether I best care for my family financially by establishing myself as a self-employed entrepreneur or by getting a regular job again. But time will tell.

And what comes after we I have achieved these goals? Well, I don’t really know right now. You might have guessed that I usually cross bridges when I get there. But one thing is for sure. If I can count both non-financial goals among my achievements in the next six months I will be very pleased with myself. As I have said before, all of us are pretty happy when things work out as planned. Such times usually make us feel pretty good about ourselves and our lives. The good times always take care of themselves. We only have to worry when things don’t work out as planned. (Hence, the need for “Plan B”!)