10 Types of Financial Goals to Work Towards

February 3, 2017 by jlmdiscovery

There is a lot of talk about budgeting, cutting spending, and living within our means. We know we should be saving money, but what are we saving it for?

Last week I completed an exercise for a course that asked me to brainstorm my goals for the next three years. It then asked me to estimate how much those goals would cost and how I would need to adjust my current income and budget. I made me realize the importance of setting clear financial goals alongside our personal ones.

There are many different goals you may want to save up for. Take a look at your long-term and short-term goals and have an open discussion with your family about what your priorities are.

Here are 10 ideas for financial goals to work towards:

1) Emergency Fund

Dave Ramsey fans know the importance of having a financial reserve in case unexpected expenses arise. He recommends saving at least $1,000 in addition to 3-6 months of living expenses.

2) Paying Off Debt

No one likes having debt hanging over their heads, be it credit cards, car payments, or student loans. Becoming debt-free is a goal of many.

3) Buying a Home

Whether it’s saving up for the down payment on your first new home or upgrading to a better one, investing in a new home is a reward in itself.

4) Saving for Retirement

The earlier you start saving for retirement, the longer your account has time to grow. Do some research on potential retirement accounts and start adding to them a little at a time. A financial advisor can help you determine how much you’ll need to save to live the retirement lifestyle you want.

5) College or Private School

If you want to be able to provide financial assistance to your kids through private school or college, start putting aside savings towards their education. Work with an advisor to estimate how much they’ll need and the best accounts to open.

6) New Car

It’s exciting to drive off the lot with a new car, and even more so if you can pay it off in full. Research the car you want ahead of time and start setting aside funds.

7) Vacation

Whether you want to travel the world or just take the family to Disney World, setting aside funds lets you know you can enjoy yourselves within a clear budget that won’t break the bank.

8) Large Purchases

Are you looking forward to redecorating your home? Have a hobby you’d like to invest in? Save up for your large purchases instead of putting them on your credit card.

9) Charity

Have you always wanted to make a large donation to your favorite cause? Perhaps your goal is to make annual contributions to several organizations.

10) Starting Your Own Business

Setting up a new business typically involves a financial investment. If one of your dreams is to be your own boss, this may be a priority for you.

Your goals will likely be a combination of the types listed above. However, the following goals should be included in any financial plan:

Become Financially Literate – Learn more about personal finance so you are better prepared to make decisions for your family.
Get Focused With Your Spending – Set up a budget and stick to it so you can put any extra funds towards your goals.
Plan for Life’s Twists and Turns – Make sure you have your insurance policies in order and plan ahead for potential emergencies.

Money is a tool that gives us the freedom to pursue our dreams. It’s up to us to decide how best to use it. So when you’re setting up your goals for the year, be sure to include these options in your plans.

Why You Should Evaluate Your Goals Every Three Months

January 27, 2017 by jlmdiscovery

How many times have you set a goal at the start of the new year and practically forgotten about it halfway through?

Goals are like flowers – you can’t just plant the seeds and walk away. You need to tend to them, check in on them, and cultivate them.

The best way to tend to your goals is to evaluate them at least every three months. Even the most basic review will keep them fresh in your mind. Here’s why:

You Renew Your Commitment

You know that motivation you feel when you kick off your New Year’s resolutions? It’s usually enough to power you through the first few weeks at least.

Checking in on your goals once a quarter is like giving yourself a restart button. Imagine having that invigorating burst of focus three more times in a year. If nothing else, it will get you that much closer to achieving your goals.

Start by reviewing your list of goals. For each one, remind yourself why you set it and what you have to gain by reaching it. Then either continue your current plan of action or create a new one. Commit to those new steps and surround yourself with inspiration.

You Make Adjustments

It’s easy to have grand plans at the start of the year. But sometimes those plans aren’t as realistic as you thought. Or they just aren’t as effective as you thought.

Looking over your goals every few months gives you the opportunity to review what’s working and what’s not. This is the only way you can make adjustments that will really have an impact.

If it’s not working, you have a few options:

Adjust your plan of action. Maybe you expected to workout for an hour each day and realized you just don’t have the time. So instead you could change your plan to working out for 30 minutes or an hour three times per week.
Adjust the goal itself. Maybe you set a goal of saving up for your dream house within in the year. Halfway though you realize it’s just not feasible in that time frame. So instead you change your objective to saving half of the down payment.
Adjust your mindset. Maybe you were excited to start fresh but lost motivation when things didn’t progress as quickly as you wanted. This is a great time to build up your support system and recommit.

On the other hand, perhaps your progress is going better than you thought. You may have even reached your goal already. In this case you have two options:

Stretch your goal. Maybe you set a business goal of reaching $50,000 in sales but you’re already at $60,000. Why not stretch your goal to $100,000 and see if you can push yourself that much further.
Celebrate and move on to other goals. If you’ve reached your goal and you’re content with it, hooray! Put that one aside and make one of your others a priority.

Speaking of celebration…

You Celebrate More Successes

Most people prefer instant gratification over waiting on progress. Waiting is hard – you put in all this effort and for a while you may not even know if it’s paying off. When progress is slow we lose confidence in our abilities and willpower.

Performing a quarterly check-in gives you the chance to take a look back at how far you’ve come in the past three months. Celebrate the wins, even if they’re small. And if you haven’t reached any milestones yet, celebrate the effort you’ve put in so far.

If it helps you, set up a reward for reaching each milestone. Plan it at the start of the year so you know what you have to look forward to.

You Keep Yourself on a Deadline

It’s easy to procrastinate when you feel like you have an entire year ahead of you. You start off with your action steps on your to do list, but they quickly get pushed to the next day, and the next day, and the next day, because they don’t feel time-sensitive.

When you set three month milestones you’ve suddenly narrowed your schedule. Instead of having 365 days to reach a goal, you now have only 90. You can even narrow that down further into monthly goals. This keeps you focused on making your goals a priority in your life.

Creating Quarterly Goal Reviews

So how do you set up these check-ins? Here’s how to get started:

Schedule four reviews in your calendar. Set reminders and consider them mandatory appointments with yourself.
Break your larger goals into 2-4 milestones. These are stepping stones to your overall objectives. Assign them to each quarter.
During each quarterly review, ask yourself the following:
1. Why do I want to reach this goal?
2. What progress have I made so far? Have I reached my goal?
3. What has been working? How can I keep this up?
4. What hasn’t been working? How can I make adjustments?
5. What am I grateful for in the past three months?
6. What is my new plan of action?
Update your calendars with your new plans.

If you’re looking for a planner or journal set up to accommodate quarterly reviews, check out the Powersheets Goal Planner or the Daily Greatness Journal (I love both of these).

Keep cultivating those goals and you’re sure to make those dreams come true!

21 Ways to Stay Accountable to Your [Health and Fitness] Goals

January 20, 2017 by jlmdiscovery

Raise your hand if you’ve ever set a health or fitness resolution.

Now raise your hand if you’ve ever struggled with achieving your health or fitness resolution.

I doubt you actually raised your hand (I wouldn’t), but I know you’re thinking about goals you’ve set in the past that fizzled out after a few weeks of attempts. Reaching our goals is hard. But that’s not a bad thing. The best goals push us forward and show us who we can be.

I have several of my own health goals for this year, so I’ve been studying ways to stay focused. I’ve learned that the process is the same for almost any type of goal. It’s about accountability and letting our values and personality drive our efforts.

Here are 21 ways to stay accountable to your health and fitness goals!

Establish Your Goals

1. Set Specific, Achievable Goals

How can you hold yourself accountable to a goal if you haven’t defined it? It would be like shooting an arrow with no target. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based (i.e. S.M.A.R.T. goals).

2. Know Your “Why”

Ask yourself the following questions:

How will your life be different once you achieve your goals?
How will you feel if you don’t make progress?
What do you value in life?

When you understand why you want to reach your goals and how they fit within your values you’ll have powerful motivation to complete them.

3. Break Your Goals into Bite-Sized Pieces

Big goals are great, but it’s easy to feel like you’re not making any progress. Break each goal into milestones, and then break those down into weekly tasks or daily habits. When you have steps to focus on each day/week/month, you’ll know you’re moving closer to your goals.

4. Write Down Your Goals Officially

Writing down your goals is like signing a contract with yourself. State your resolutions and lay out your plan for accomplishing them. Include your motivations, timeline, and milestones.

5. Post Your Goals Where You Can See Them Frequently

Out of sight is often out of mind, so post your goals in a few places around your house or on your phone. I use reminder apps to send me a notification daily. I also love posting index cards to my bulletin board in my office. Another idea is to write your goals in your journal every day to keep them fresh in your mind.

6. Share Your Goals

It’s been shown that people feel more accountable to their goals when they share their intentions with friends and family. Discuss your goals with loved ones and ask them to support you. Social media has similar abilities, so why not share your resolutions in a Facebook or Twitter post?

Stay Motivated

7. Create a Schedule and Set Timers

Create a meal plan, add workouts to your calendar, and set reminders to alert you of your plans. We get so caught up in our current lives and distractions that it can seem impossible to add anything else to our plates. You can make it all work if you stick to your plans and trust your timers.

8. Help Your Future Self (Plan Ahead)

Be your own accountability partner by doing as much preparation and planning in advance as you can. Lay out your workout clothes the night before, prep healthy meals, fill the fridge with fresh, filtered water, and do anything else you can to make life easier for your “future self”.

9. Fill Your Inbox/News Feed with Inspiration

Follow some of your favorite health and fitness pages on Facebook or Twitter. Subscribe to daily tips or meal ideas straight to your inbox. When you surround yourself with support for your goals you’ll get inspiration even when you’re distracting yourself with a social media break.

10. Educate Yourself on Your Goals

Take the time to learn more about your health and fitness goals, whether that means studying nutrition via an online course or watching videos on proper weightlifting form. The more you understand the benefits of what you are trying to achieve, the more committed you will be.

11. Sign Up for a Competition

Competitions are great because they give you specific goals and a deadline. Races are fun for runners (or soon-to-be-runners), but you can also consider weightlifting competitions, tournaments, or even friendly weight loss competitions.

12. Support a Cause

If you’d like to help others while helping yourself, why not sign up for a charity run? You can also volunteer time for projects that involve physical activity, such as Habitat for Humanity.

13. Join a Health or Fitness Challenge

Many health bloggers host free mini-challenges throughout the year. I’ve seen some focused on drinking more water, improving mindfulness, better meal planning, and battling cravings. You can also search Pinterest for 30-day fitness challenges, such as a 30-Day Abs Challenge.

14. Create Your Own Rewards Program

For each of your milestones, determine a reward you will earn for achieving it. It can be as small as a new article of clothing or as large as a weekend getaway. Make them personal and relevant to your goals so you’ll know you’re working towards them.

15. Create Contingency Plans

You know those excuses and distractions that constantly get in the way of your good intentions? Get in front of them by creating contingency plans for your obstacles. Example: If you know you’ll skip your workout when you hit snooze a few too many times, find a 10 minute workout you can keep on reserve.

Track Your Progress

16. Use a Fitness App or Habit Tracker to Log Your Progress

One of the biggest struggles is feeling like you’re not getting any closer to your goals. Tracking your progress, even in small intervals, will prove to you that your methods are working. I love the My Fitness Pal app for measuring my progress and keeping track of my nutrition. I also use paper habit trackers to check goals off my list daily. Here are a few great apps and tools:

17. Keep a Journal

Journals serve two great purposes when it comes to goals: you can write down your goals daily (some recommend twice per day) and you can reflect on how you feel throughout your journey. Write about your progress, your struggles, your victories, and your emotions each day.

18. Schedule Check-Ins With Yourself

It’s helpful to reevaluate your goals and methods every now and then to ensure you’re still on the track you want to be on. Schedule sessions once a quarter, or even once per month. Ask yourself what’s working and what isn’t, and make adjustments to your plans as necessary.

Build a Support System

19. Work with a Friend

Combining fitness with social time is typically a win-win. Find a friend who will be your “accountability buddy” (preferably one who has similar goals). Plan activities together and share tips and ideas. Check in with each other regularly to share your victories.

20. Work with a Trainer/Coach

Depending on your situation, you can choose from a personal trainer at your local gym or a virtual health and fitness coach. Do your research before signing on with someone, and be sure they understand your current state and long-term goals.

21. Join a Support Group

Thanks to Facebook Groups, you can easily find a group that will fit your needs no matter where you are located. If you’re following a specific diet or fitness plan, there are specialized groups and sometimes local chapters. Wellness communities work to inspire members and offer assistance overcoming obstacles and answering questions.

The best way to stay accountable to your goals is to choose a combination of these strategies that aligns with your personality and needs. Remember, you get a chance every second to make a decision that will move you closer to your goals!

Which strategies will you choose this year?

How to Find an Extra Hour in Your Day with 5 Minute Lists

January 6, 2017 by jlmdiscovery

Who wouldn’t want an extra hour in their day?

It’s easy to feel like we don’t have enough time to do what we want to do in our days. Between family, work, chores, and activities we feel stretched thin. But the truth is that most of us already have that free hour; we just don’t realize it yet.

Here is how to find it.

What would you do with an extra hour in your day?

Think about this first. What would you do with your extra hour? Would you pursue a hobby? Check off some cleaning? Work towards a personal goal? Maybe just sleep?

Write a list of the things you wish you could accomplish in a day. This list can include items you’d like to add to your daily routine, goals you’re working toward, hobbies you’d like to pick up, and whatever else comes to mind. Be sure it includes things you really want to or need to do, and not just things you think you should be doing.

Here is an example:

Read (a book/scripture/articles)
Get a workout in
Learn a new language
Fold laundry
Plan for the week
Journal
Write a blog post

Look to your long-term goals for inspiration. If you’re trying to get out of debt, maybe you’d like to spend that extra hour reviewing your finances or working on a side business. If you would like to advance your career, perhaps you want to take an eCourse or read industry articles. If you’re committed to getting healthier, maybe you would spend that hour on a workout program or meal prepping. We can chip away at goals a little at a time if we make time for them.

Where is my extra hour?

Take a moment and think about what you do on your average day. If you’re like me, you feel like you’re constantly busy. It’s easy to think you couldn’t possibly fit anything else into your schedule.

But do you do any of the following? Watch TV, scroll through your Facebook or Instagram feed, browse Pinterest, commute to work or school, lounge in bed before officially getting up, or maybe just let yourself get lost in thought for a while? We all need breaks from the chaos, but it is in these times that we have the opportunity to fit in that extra hour.

Write a list of what you typically do in a day. Be honest with yourself, and be sure to include distractions that you usually fall into (i.e. mini-Netflix marathons). Try to be as thorough as possible. Here is an example:

Hit snooze on alarm
Feed the baby
Get ready for the day
Make breakfast
Work
Make dinner
Clean up
Watch TV
Scroll social media before bed

What could you accomplish if you took just five minutes from every hour and put it towards your goals?

Look at your list and identify times you could easily carve out five minutes. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Before getting out of bed in the morning
While getting ready for the day
During your commute
In between work sessions (work for 25 min, take a break for 5)
While cooking/prepping meals
During commercial breaks (typically 2-3 minutes per break)

The idea is not to overload yourself by “multi-tasking”. It’s to find time you already have to spare and put it towards your goals. Five minutes doesn’t seem like much at first, but it adds up over time if you’re focused on using it wisely. Just taking five minutes of every hour will give you 60-80 minutes “extra” in your day.

Decide what you’ll do with your extra hour

Now that you know what you want to accomplish and you’ve identified your extra hour, it’s time to create a plan for how you’ll spend your time.

Write a list of the five minute tasks that will help you work toward your goals. These can either be independent tasks or longer tasks broken into five minute intervals. This will be your reference when you find you have a few moments to spare.

Here are a few examples:

Goal: Keep the House Clean

empty the dishwasher
wipe down counters
dust off surfaces
put in a load of laundry
fold 5 minutes worth of clothing
empty trash bins
pick up toys
sort mail

Goal: Get Healthier

do a 5-minute full body workout (I love the Sworkit app for these)
do 100 jumping jacks
do 25 pushups
lift weights
prep a healthy snack for the day
drink a tall glass of water
stretch
brainstorm healthy meals for the week
meditate

Goal: Learn Something New

read a book for 5 minutes
watch a 5 minute TED Talk
read an article
learn new vocabulary
listen to a podcast
watch a YouTube video on a new subject

When you find you have a few minutes free, you simply pick a task off your list. You may even find that by completing routine tasks throughout the day you have more time in the evening, allowing you that extra sleep you’ve been wanting.

Tools & Tips

There are a few tools I’ve been using that have helped me fit in these extra tasks:

Timers – I mostly ask Siri to set a timer in the moment, but doing so makes sure I won’t loose track of time.
Sworkit – As I mentioned, I use this fitness app for five minute workouts (for the times I can’t motivate myself to fit in a full workout).
Feedly – This blog reader allows me to collect all my favorite newsfeeds and browse them together (so I can limit my distractions when I only have time for one article).
Daily Planning Sheet – I use a daily sheet I made to help keep track of the five minute tasks I know I want to accomplish each day, along with the rest of my schedule.

Here are a few other tips I’ve found helpful:

Find audiobooks, podcasts, TED Talks, or audio-courses for times you know you’ll only be able to listen along – commutes, meal prep, etc.
Make use of your commercial breaks (unless you’re a Netflix fan – then use the time between episodes) – see how much laundry you can fold or how many sit-ups you can do before the show returns.
Check in with yourself every now and then to see if you’re in a productive state of mind or simply lost in thought – at those times look at your list and see if you can work on something else instead.
Even on your busiest days see if you can take two minutes at a time to drink an extra glass of water, meditate, or jot down your thoughts (these will be more effective breaks than scrolling through Twitter).

The goal isn’t to overwhelm yourself with an endless list of tasks to fit into your already busy day. It’s to purposefully make time in your day to work towards your goals.

So tell me, what do you plan to do with your extra hour? Share in the comments below!

How Failure Can Make Me an Astronaut

February 24, 2016 by jlmdiscovery

In celebration of National Engineer’s Week, I’d like to share a recent story with you about my first application to the astronaut program.

For those who don’t know, astronaut applications typically open up every four years or so and accept between 8-14 candidates. This year had a record number of 18,300 applicants (the previous record was 8,100 in 1978). This puts my chances for selection around 0.08%. And yet, even knowing I just meet the minimum qualifications, I applied because 0.08% is still higher than 0%.

I’ve wanted to apply to be an astronaut since I was eight years old. I always had this dream of filling out the “perfect” application, repeating as necessary until I finally got my chance. But when it came time to submit my first application I froze, realizing I didn’t know what I really had to offer. Sure I have the necessary degree, but what makes me stand out over those other 18,299 people?

I started to let myself get so discouraged that I nearly didn’t submit anything at all. Here was a job I had always wanted, and I felt like I had nothing to show for it. If it weren’t for my husband’s gentle nudging (who, as it happens, also applied for the program), I may have let that first opportunity I had longed for pass by. I managed to put together the best application I could muster at the moment, and now I’ll play the waiting game with everyone else over the next few months.

I’ve been going over this process again and again in my head the past week, and I realized that I have two ways to look at it: I can either let myself be discouraged or I can use this as an opportunity for growth. Every time I’ve submitted an application, interviewed, or even started a new job, I’ve been filled with anxiety over the qualifications and skills I’ve felt I lacked. And it’s all too easy to start focusing on others and letting envy creep in over their success. But why? Sitting before me now is a list of recommended traits and qualifications, along with a 50+ year history of examples who have been accepted by the program. In fact, I know that most likely four years from now the same position will open up again. So what can I change in the next four years to feel more confident in my application?

This is a challenge before me, one with objectives already laid out, ready to be met. I started by considering skills that most of the current astronauts possess. While they are no guarantee of future success, they are a great stepping stone to pursue a wider variety of abilities. Here is what I came up with:

* Advanced Degree(s)
* Subject Matter Expertise
* Published Works
* Hands-On Mechnical Experience
* Leadership/Project Management Experience
* Multiple Languages (Russian, Japanese, etc)
* Public Speaking/STEM Outreach
* General Health & Fitness
* Swimming/SCUBA Skills
* Flying Experience

Each of these translates in a series of attainable goals to pursue, with a timeline in which to complete them. Now it’s up to me to create cohesive strategies for personal development. There’s nothing stopping me from learning new foreign vocabulary each day or spending time reading up on upcoming aerospace research. And yet the biggest piece of this career puzzle isn’t even on this list: the set of skills that will set me apart from the other applicants. I need to set aside some time to brainstorm what it is that I can uniquely offer. Therein lies the confidence that I need to put forth a successful application. So, while I may not be there yet, I have a plan set in motion for the next four years that will bring me closer to my dream job.

I realize that not everyone reading this has had the lifelong goal of traveling into orbit (or perhaps you have and you’ve just never taken action on it). But this lack of confidence affects nearly anyone who’s ever applied for a job. When we read those job postings and the list of qualifications, we’re provided with a template for success. We may not have everything we need just now, but those skills are worth taking note of because they’re the ones that will get us further in the future. The best way we can approach failure is to use it as feedback on what we can do to improve ourselves.

I wish you the best of luck with your current and future endeavors!

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

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