Goals Can Be Fun and All in the Eye of the Beholder

The other day when I was going through some old paperwork, I found a scrap of paper containing a list of personal goals I had written down one evening several years ago. These goals were things that I would like to do or buy should I ever "make it" in life. They weren't necessarily extravagant or extraordinarily difficult goals to achieve, but they were things that were important to me and that, should I have the available cash, would enjoy.

While I still feel far from having "made it" in life, I was surprised to find that I had accomplished several on the goals on my list. This made me realize that setting such personal goals can be fun and that determining what individualized goals can be an important aspect of personal finance.

Not all Goals Have to Be 'Un-fun'

Sometimes goals get a bad rap because people think of them as extra pressure to do something they don't typically want to do or have the ability to do regularly. But goals don't always have to serious or 'un-fun'. In my opinion though, they should be about and directed toward the person or people setting them as well as their particular interests and abilities.

I had, and still have a mixture of goals. These goals are often balanced between the fun and the serious. Sure, I have financial goals and career goals, but I also have personal goals. And meeting those personal goals often hinges upon meeting the financial and career goals first.

My Personal Goals

Here were the seven personal goals I found on my list from five years ago:

* Buy a home.

* Buy an air hockey table (my wife and I have had some great battles across the cool breeze of an air hockey table).

* Buy a canoe (I grew up canoeing and miss it terribly).

* Take the family to an IndyCar race/Indianapolis 500 (we're huge open wheel racing fans!).

* Spend time at the family condo (the in-laws have a vacation condo in Florida so why not make use of it?)

* Take an Alaskan cruise/Bahamian Cruise.

* Take the family on a trip to Charleston, South Carolina (I love Charleston and would like to take my wife and son there).

What Goals I've Accomplished

So over the last five years, here is what I have accomplished or changed when it comes to my personal goals:

* Bought and sold a home.

* While my and I wife love to duke it out over a good game of air hockey, it doesn't quite hold the same appeal it used to, so I've crossed that off the list. Plus, we don't have a house anymore so where would we put it?

* I just recently got a used canoe for $30. It needs some work, but I think fixing it up will be a fun and educational hobby.

* My wife, mother, and I went to the Chicagoland IndyCar race. My wife and I went to the Indianapolis 500 twice and we took our four-year-old son to "Fast Friday" practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway just this past May.

* We are planning three weeks at the family condo in November, meeting the in-laws there for Thanksgiving.

* My wife and I took a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon, and with plans to spend some time on the west coast in the works, that Alaskan cruise might not be just a goal too much longer.

* Charleston may not happen anytime soon, but you can't have it all...right?

Time to Re-evaluate

I am pretty darn happy and somewhat surprised that I was able to meet the majority of my goals. This doesn't mean that it's time to sit back and rest upon my laurels though. Instead, I prefer to re-evaluate, reconsider and select new goals. Doing so can not only act to push me to further succeed in my financial and career goals, but can reward me for doing so and make achieving such goals all the more satisfying.

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Disclaimer:

The author is not a licensed financial professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For financial advice, readers should consult a licensed financial advisor. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.