This is Part III in the series – Leaders Take Control of Your Financial Future.
In Part I, a basic outline was introduced that described what you need to do to take control of your finances. Part II dealt with Desire. Today we will be discussing your dreams and aspirations. I believe that one of the gifts you have been given is to dream. This is what motivates you to be creative and to exercise your mind and body to the point where you feel exhilaration. There is a great line from the movie Rudy that said, “Dreams are what makes life tolerable!”
What are your dreams, and how do you plan for them financially? It goes without saying (almost) that to achieve your dreams at someone else’s expense is never ok. Having said that, as a leader the first thing you need to know is that achieving dreams takes work.
If you can achieve your dream with little effort or work, your dream is not big enough!
So – Dream Big! James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1996 article entitled Building Your Company’s Vision they coined the acronym BHAG that stood for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Get a dream worth having.
After you have your dream, you need to put it in front of you where you can see it all the time. Get a photo or picture of your dream. If your dream is a Ferrari, put a picture of the car you want (get the color and details right!) and put it in a prominent place where you can see it almost all the time. If your dream is to become a singer, go get a picture taken of yourself on a stage somewhere, holding a microphone while you sing your heart out. Be creative.
Once your dream is in front of you – dissect it. How romantic. Dissecting your dream sounds a bit mechanical, but you have to do it. What do you need to have or do, to achieve your dream? This is where most people fail. They don’t assess what it really takes to get to their dream. Take some time and create a list of these things, then put a monetary value next to it. If you need to take singing lessons, how much does that cost? How about that Ferrari? What is the price tag? If you want to meet someone and enter into a relationship – where are you going to meet this person. Perhaps to meet this person, you need to get out more by taking a class or getting a hobby. What will this cost you?
This exercise puts a dose of reality in your dreaming. It gives you a clear picture of how to go about putting the finances aside to increase the probability of reaching your dream.
All the best
All the time,
JT