This post is a companion piece to my previous post on financial goal planning and, given we are coming up to the end of month, it would be an appropriate time to muse about this topic since most new year’s resolutions tend to fade after the initial euphoria. I have always felt it was easier to write down goals then to stick to them. For most of us, we make a goal on new year’s day but you have another 364 days to execute on them. As they like to say in business, it is not the best idea that is the most profitable but the best executed idea. I would rather have modest goals and great execution than a earth-shattering goals and poor execution.

As an opening note, I have found there seems to be a real correlation between tracking your goals and sticking to them. After all, how do you know if you are sticking to your goals if you don’t know how you are doing? If I keep tracking my goal, as opposed to saying “I feel I am meeting them,” I know how far away I am from my goals and have to make an extra effort to reach them if I am falling behind. If you want a great example, think of the other bloggers who post their net worth monthly. They are constantly tracking their goal and they know what adjustments they have to make to reach their goal. They also do well for that reason- tracking goals keeps you disciplined.

Here are a couple of methods of goal tracking I have tried over the years. The key is to mix and match in a combination that works for you and not to do just one unless one method works effectively from the outset.

WRITE IT DOWN AND LOOK AT IT EVERY SINGLE DAY

My friend introduced me to this one. He had a number written on a bulletin board. It meant nothing to anybody but him. The key was that the bulletin board was positioned in a way that he could see it every single day when he woke up. It was a constant remainder of his goal and this method made him think “how close am I to my goal?” as the first thought of the day.

I tried this but this was never my cup of tea. Others have had great success to the constant reinforcement of the goal.

SET ASIDE THE SAME TIME TO TRACK GOALS AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS

I use to be very poor on following through with my goals. Part of the reason was that I would track my goals when I felt like it. Thus, I would look at my goals once, wait 6 weeks, look at it again, wait 9 weeks, look at it again, wait 14 weeks…and then just forget about them.

I spend every Sunday now looking at my goals, tracking them and making adjustments as need be. Some of you may think once a week is too much (especially if you have young kids). You have to make your own decision on what is an appropriate interval to look at your goals and make sure you are meeting them. However, I have found if you leave more than 4 weeks between goal checking intervals too much time elapses and the damage, to the extent there is any, is done. A short interval allows you to make adjustments quickly.

I wanted to end this method with one comment. Goal tracking is not a comfortable exercise at all. It forces us to look at our own warts and confront ourselves on why we are falling short. You have to will yourself out of comfort zone in order to track your goals and make sure you are sticking to them. If you are a creature of comfort, remember this- do not confuse comfort with happiness. Every successful person I have ever met always says the same thing to me- it takes a lot of hard work to get ahead in life. The comforts they enjoy now occur after years of hard work.

USE THE PROFESSIONALS

Perhaps other bloggers do not mention this, but I appear to be an anomaly in that I have an investment advisor or I openly blog about the fact that I have an advisor. I am not sure if my advisor likes me- I always force him to review my portfolio with me and ask him what we are doing right and wrong (I write this with tongue firmly planted in cheek- we get along great). Basically, what I do is make my advisor my goal enforcer. He knows where I want to go and he reminds me if I stray offside.

Some readers may ask does my advisor try to push product on me? No. In fact, it is the other way around. I call him at least once a month with my “I have an idea…” conversation. Very rarely do I implement the idea. Instead, it is more of a sounding board. Once I verbalize my idea to someone with expertise, I hear how off-track some of my ideas are and I regain my senses (and some of these ideas were completely off the wall).

Why doesn’t he push product? Very early on in our relationship, we had a conversation of what I want and don’t want in my portfolio and then I put it in writing and he has that on file. We have a very clear understanding of wants and needs and it has set the map of where I am heading.

If you have an advisor and you are frustrated, pick up the phone and call them. Tell them what you want and how you want the relationship to progress. If you don’t know what you want, have a conversation about that too with the understanding they will not push product but discuss strategy. There are many advisors who are waiting for their clients to have this constructive conversation with them. If you have an advisor who is not willing to do this, then it may be time for a change.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH OTHER GOAL SETTERS

Join a group of like-minded people. Arrange to have coffee at set-times. Stop associating with people who think goals are “silly” or “you’ll never reach them.” Stay positive, stay focused and build a support group that looks at life the same way.

I have the privilege of having friends who are all of the above. Their influence in my life is incalculable. Before that, I worked at large law firm- taken as a whole, with notable exceptions, a collection of highly intelligent but extremely negative people. You would always be afraid to stick your neck out on the line or be positive. As an ex co-worker once said to me: “they don’t pay us danger pay, they pay us fear pay. They pay us well to live in fear.”

The other idea written at length by Nancy Zimmerman is to start an investment club with like minded people. The clubs are excellent opportunities to engage in something educational in a social setting.

ADJUST THE TACTICS BUT NOT THE STRATEGY

The surest way to sabotage a goal is to change the rules by changing the goal when you hit the first bump on the road. If you keep changing goals, you will never reach them. Its like that friend we all have that always says “once I have [insert person/object/job]…I will be happy” then they hit a bump in the road to that magic bullet that will cure all their life’s woes and they say “ok, once I have [insert new person/object/job… I will be happy.” It becomes a never ending cycle of non-reachable goals and frustration.

I ran into an obstacle with my goal to increase net worth by 7% in 2008. The markets refuse to co-operate! Thus, instead of lowering the bar, I am changing tactics. My emphasis has shifted from capital growth to a combination of capital preservation and more aggressive debt repayment. I also realized that I am too over-weighed in banks- but I love financials (I love any business where they use other people’s money, charge you for the use of your own money and then put up barriers to get your own money out)- so I am adjusting into other industries where they get paid first or there is pricing power.

MAKE THEM PUBLIC

One of the largest criticism of the personal finance blogging community is that we are smug in that we appear to have mastered the art of managing money (guess they never read the posts where we collectively admit we fell on our faces many times over). However, I look at it the other way- bloggers are mastering (since no one ever masters) the art of managing money because they have made their lives public to one extent to the other- the threat of public embarrassment has a way of really focusing one’s attention to the task at hand. I made mention to a friend that I have become a much more disciplined investor since I started writing this blog (now I make mistakes in the single digits and not double digits). I don’t want to look like a fool in front of my readers.

I am not suggesting you all start a blog (although it is therapeutic on some level). What I do suggest is sharing your goals with someone you trust and who will be supportive of them and vice versa. Making your goals public creates an external pressure to fulfill them which will complement whatever internal drive you have that initially lead you to set the goals.

A good start is to have that person meet with you at a set time to discuss your mutual goals. Respect their time and them- make sure you have something to report and come prepared. It shouldn’t become a forum to complain. After all, you are supposed to be helping one another.

These are some of the things I do, anyone want to suggest other ideas?