Refocus on your goals

Do you remember what your goals were when you first began? Whether it be starting a business, investing, or even exercising, do you remember what you wanted to achieve?

Many times people come up with ideas on how to make money. They begin to collect their resources and get straight to work, only to eventually lose sight of what they really wanted to accomplish.

One good example can be seen when dealing with the stock market. Many new investors will enter the game with a goal of making a certain percentage return within a given time frame (10% in 6 months). Fast forward 2 months, the return is at 8%. Maybe I got a natural gift of picking winners or maybe I just got in a few good rallies. Either way this leaves me more then half the time to get the remaining 2%; however, since I am much further ahead of my schedule, 2% in the remaining 4 months looks like child’s play. Perhaps now greed kicks in and I don’t see why I couldn’t get 16% in the time that is left.

Time passes by and I am not seeing the same results as I was before, so now I try to step up my game and change my trading habits. Maybe I try to jump in and out of positions faster or maybe I take part in more riskier plays so I can get that 16%. Suddenly the end of the 6 month time frame approaches and my return is down to 5% or even up 1 to 9%. The goal that I was a sure lock to achieve is now failed because I lost sight of the initial goal, and now I have to waste even more time to finish that goal.

One thing that I have learned through my experiences in the stock market, business ventures, and even just everyday life is that there is no such thing as a sure thing. Just because something worked for a while doesn’t mean it will always work. If you get ahead of yourself and lose focus of your goals, then they will never get accomplished.

In the example, if I had just kept my same trading practices and aimed for that remaining 2%, then most likely I would of had a better chance of reaching that goal. If I happen to get more then 10%, then hooray for me.

Unless a goal is fully met, then there should be no reason to alter it because your first goal hasn’t even been completed.

So if you are stuck, in a rut, or just don’t think you are getting anywhere, then take a second to step aside, re-establish your goal(s), and refocus on what needs to be done to achieve it.