Monthly Goal Check-in #7 – @ 8/1/2016

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As I write this monthly goal check-in we are officially 214 days into 2016 (or ~59% complete). Most people started the year off strong with their New Year’s resolutions for 2016. Well, at least the 45% of people who actually set New Year’s resolutions (US based statistics). The low participation rate isn’t even the worst news, of those 45%, 1 in 3 have already given up by the end of January. This means that 70% of Americans have already failed either by default or giving up.

I don’t want you or I to be a part of that 70% group. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably still on track and fired up to reach your goals, I know I am!

If you’ve hit a bit of a speed bump from coming out of the gate too hard, use this post as a reminder that there are still 7 months left in the year. Don’t give up! Remember that when the going gets tough, the tough keep going.

This is also the perfect time for me to encourage you to check-in on the progress you have already made in your own goals this year. If you set measurable goals, this should be rather easy. And if you set up the right tracking system, it shouldn’t take long to evaluate where you are.

We tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in a day or a week, but you would be surprised at what is possible over the course of a month and a single year.

We have 366 days in 2016. That is 366 opportunities to make forward progress on our goals. Some days are going to be better than others, it’s the nature of the game. The key is to keep it fun and remember life is just one big game. With 214 days behind us, that is 59% complete, which leaves us with 41% of runway left to make our goals a reality.

When you have a bad day, don’t give up, get up and shake it off as you continue moving forward. Remember tomorrow is another day and another opportunity.

Lastly, it is also a perfect opportunity to review the goals on your list to ensure they’re still important to you. Sometimes we put goals on our list that seemed really important at the time, but lose that importance over time. I am not saying you should quit on a goal just because you’re not seeing the progress you wanted to see by now, but to make sure you’re going after things that matter to you. It’s okay to realize that you put down the wrong goals.

Is it time for a pivot? A tweak? Or maybe it’s time to strike one of those goals off your list.


My Personal Accountability & Check-in

Below is where I stand with the 12 goals I set for 2016. You can see that I have added some additional color formatting to visually see the progress made in each passing month.

Goal Checkin #7

My initial assessment when looking at this, is that I have made some really solid progress, but I’m still behind pace in a few goals.

Let’s briefly take a look at each one:

Goal #1 [250 CrossFit/Hot Yoga Workouts or More, 42%] – Although I continue to make progress on this goal, I am significantly behind pace. This is something I take full responsibility for and realize that I am prioritizing other activities over working out. However, I have averaged about 15 workouts a month so far this year. I may not hit the 250 workouts, but I will complete far more workouts than I would have, had I not set this goal.

Goal #2 [250 Days Eating Primal of nutritional consciousness or More, 26.4%] – No progress here; I have essentially been a glutton. We will see what August brings!

Goal #3 [Earn $270K in Gross Income or More, 80.7%] – I am convinced that we will blow this goal out of the water, even without a promotion to VP CIO. Mrs GYFG keeps killing it every month with her income. We are currently on track to now bring in $315K as of our August Forecast. This goal looks like it will be accomplished by October.

Goal #4 [Publish 52 new Blog Posts or More, 82.7%] – This goal is ahead of schedule. Based on the current pace, we could have this goal at 100% by the end of August.

Goal #5 [Pay Down Mortgage Principle by $25,000 or More, 100%] – As expected our recent refinance had us blow past our goal of $25,000. According to our accelerated plan we don’t need to make another additional payment until April of 2017 to stay on track for the 7 year and 3 month payoff of our mortgage. We are currently on hold with making new payments until then.

Goal #6 [Contribute $24,650 to Pre-Tax Accounts, 68%] – This one is pretty much on auto pilot. Not much to think about here.

Goal #7 [Vacation 21 days or More with My Wife, Friends, and Family, 90.5%] – I have two more days of vacation left before I reach this goal. We don’t have anything on the calendar until December when we go to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Nonetheless, this goal will hit 100%.

Goal #8 [Save 50% or More of After Tax Income, 100%] – This will be something that moves around each month. I just finished putting together my July 2016 financial report and that has us forecasted to hit 51% now, but the reading for July itself is 74%.

Goal #9 [Write 12 Posts on Other Blogs, 25%] – Three guest posts have been submitted and published. Here they are if you would like to take a read:

1 – The AC Interview Series with Gen Y Finance Guy

2 – Financially Alert Friends – Interview #3 with Dominic @ Gen Y Finance Guy

3 – 10 Guidelines to Financial Independence with Gen Y Finance Guy

I am behind on this goal, and honestly I think I will be lucky to hit 50% before the year is up. But I will do my best and forget the rest…

Goal #10 [250 Entries or More in Wife Gratitude Journal, 22.4%] – Behind pace. I should really be at 50% with this one. But I have tried to keep it very organic and writing things as they naturally come to me.

Goal #11 [Increase Net Worth by $112,000 to $430,000 by 12/31/16 or More, 95.5%] – I currently have us forecasted to actually increase net worth by $142,000 for the year, which would be an increase of 45% over our 2015 ending net worth.

Goal #12 [Earn $12,000 in the Blog, 33.3%] – This is a lifetime income goal. We have officially hit $4,000. Check out the details I share in my 2 years of blogging post.

Goal 13 – Earn VP Title C-Suite Position [Bonus Goal] – Now skipping VP and going straight to the C-Suite.


That is where I’m at so far in 2016. I am very pleased with the progress I’ve made and am very much looking forward to updating everyone in another month. In the meantime, keep charging forward with your own goals. Don’t give in or surrender. Take it one day at a time. Measure your progress and I promise you will surprise yourself with what you can accomplish in month, quarter, and year.

Sometimes the progress we make doesn’t seem visible or worth the effort. But over time it really starts to add up and compound. Think about it this way…imagine you are trying to improve just 0.3% per day. That is not a visible amount of improvement, but it adds up to almost 1% improvement every 3 days, and by the end of the year you will have improved over 100%.

Onward & Upward!

– Gen Y Finance Guy


Oh, you’re still reading.

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Gen Y Finance Guy

Hey, I’m Dom - the man behind the cartoon. You’ll notice that I sign off as "Gen Y Finance Guy" on all my posts, due to the fact that I write this blog anonymously (at least for now). I like to think of myself as the Chief Freedom Officer here of my little corner of the internet. In the real world, I’m a former 30-something C-Suite executive turned entrepreneur turned capital allocator. I am trying to humanize finance by sharing my own journey to Financial Freedom. I believe in total honesty and transparency. That is why before I ever started blogging, I decided that I would share all of my own financial stats. I do this not to brag, but instead to inspire motivate, and also to hold myself accountable. My goal is to be a beacon of hope, motivation, and inspiration, for you, the reader, by living life by example and sharing it all here on the blog. My sincere hope is that you will be able to learn from me - both from my successes and my failures! Read More

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4 Responses

  1. Very nice job.

    You are smashing your goals, particularly the earning – wow! I like how you visually represent your progress too, makes it very easy to understand. Good luck for next month.

    Tristan

  2. The blog income isn’t linear, so even though you are only at 33% now, do you think you’ll hit the goal? Each day you are earning a lot more now than in January. Plus you might even be able to project a little growth in the coming months.

    This post makes me want to start tracking some of my goals on my website. Unfortunately with the rental properties it is very much a waiting game, so there isn’t a whole lot of action to track!

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