If You Only Do One Thing This Year…

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Fairy Godmother Laura Posey of Dancing Elephants Achievement Group writes:

I’ve been intent this year on changing some old habits that have been holding me back.

Maybe intent isn’t the right word; it’s more like obsessed.

You see, I’m about to hit the big 4-0 this summer and I realized that one of my goals in life was to become a millionaire by 40. And I’m not there yet. I’m not even close to where I want to be which is really a multi-millionaire!

Where did the time go? How did I get this far without hitting goals I’d set 10 years ago? How did I let myself drift so far afield?

I did some deep thinking and decided that what I thought was a goal all those years ago was actually just a wish. A hope. A vague idea that I wasn’t actually committed to. It wasn’t something I was focused on and working toward, but rather something I hoped would fall in my lap.

Yeah, right, how often does that happen?

I realized that I needed a real goal. A firm destination. A commitment to reaching a certain end point at a certain date.

So I set a goal to become a millionaire in two years.

Let me define millionaire so we’re all clear on what I mean. I will have a million dollar net worth, money I could get my hands on quickly. I’ve earned well over a million in my working years. But I haven’t held on to it so it doesn’t do me much good now, does it? It has always been the saving part that bites me in the butt.

You see, I like to have fun. I love to travel and I haven’t been disciplined about saving for trips. I just up and go whenever I feel like it, regardless of my financial position at the time.

it was time to change that for good and finally make, and keep, the first million.

To get started, the first thing I did was to write my goal down on an index card. I now carry that card with me everywhere, mostly in my pocket at work and then in my wallet the rest of the time.

What a powerful thing that has been!

Each day I read the goal and I am reminded that my purpose for getting out of my warm bed and going to work is to great enormous value for my clients so they will pay me money in return.

Each time I reach into my wallet to spend some of that hard earned cash I see that goal card and am reminded that what I want most is not that bauble I’m about to buy on a whim, but that long term goal of financial independence and security.

The other day while sitting at my computer, I felt the card in my pocket and thought of my goal. I immediately reached over, picked up the phone, called my stockbroker and set it up to have a big chuck on money transferred from my bank account to my investment account each month. If it is in my investment account, I won’t spend it on silly things.

While I was on a saving roll, I also called my payroll company and asked them to take even more money out for my retirement plan.

I am now focused not only on earning money (as I always was) but also on keeping what I’ve earned. As a result of that little index card in my pocket I have made more progress on my net worth goal in two months than I did in almost all of last year.

Today’s Magic Wand: If you do only one thing this year, write down your most important goal(s) and carry them around with you. You’ll find yourself changing your behavior in subtle, but intensely meaningful ways.

My goal card has four very specific goals on it and I have made consistent progress on each and every one this year.

Do it right now. Grab a card, even if it is your business card, and write down what you most want for your business and yourself. Put it in your pocket and read it each day in the morning.

And watch the results!

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