I am struggling to believe it has already been more than 4 years since I took a couple of weeks out of the office to volunteer down in Melbourne at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The buzz and excitement of being right in the action as a results runner which was not the most complex of volunteer positions but had plenty of standing around in the thick of the action watching the cycling, netball and my favorite the basketball!
As the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games (which took me back to my experience in Melbourne) wrap up and we celebrate the successes of the Australian team I was thinking about the focused goals of the athletes with their dreams and achievements and how this can relate to us all.
“A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline”.
With any dream becoming a goal and putting a plan in place or taking a step towards making the dream happen does take sacrifice. Sacrifice of resources such as time, money and other opportunities or things you may want to be doing. If you are studying this may be at the sacrifice of socialising. If you are saving for a deposit on a home this maybe at the sacrifice of buying the latest clothing or going out as much. If you are saving for retirement it maybe at the sacrifice of taking more holidays every year.
This all ties back to our values and beliefs and when done properly financial planning is all about this!
How to work out which dreams is the really important one for you and then developing an action plan to make them happen. Now it isn’t about always making drastic changes in your life (unless your able to keep it happening), as this might not be sustainable but set up a plan with little goals for the next day, week, fortnight, month and year. Break it down and it is easier to make it happen.
My congratulations to our entire team who represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and who make sacrifices every day to achieve their dreams and goals while representing our country in sport!
The awesome thing about having a goal is they are fluid and change all the time and if we really put our minds and hearts into it anything is possible!
If you need assistance in exploring these further talk to a professional but most importantly start your journey to being free around your money and creating wealth with understanding.
Scott Malcolm (scott@money-mechanics.com.au) is Director of Money Mechanics (ph: 6257 5557) a fee for service advice firm who are authorised to provide financial advice through PATRON Financial Advice AFSL 307379.
The information provided on this article is of a general nature only. It has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this information you should consider its appropriateness having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.