Rich Snail

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You defined yesterday a list of situation and behaviors where you find happiness. More importantly, you refined it to a short list of value. Those values are extremely important as they define your life; they help you know what you stand for, and go the extra mile when needed. They are sources of inspiration and motivation. You will now start refining those values, and break them down to define specific goals.

Your values become dreams

You need to strip down each value you defined yesterday; ask yourself how you want to it answered in the long term; dream where you want to be regarding those values in 10, 20, or 30 years from now. Do not be afraid to dream big; it does not cost much.
To give you an example, two of my strongest values are Family and Freedom. I really cherish those two. They translate into the following dream: Offer freedom of choice to my family, especially my kids.

Dreams become Goals

A dream is an incredible source of motivation. Unfortunately, they are often very distant and difficult to reach; your motivation can quickly fade out if you don’t see progress towards them. That is why you need to break them down into goals. Those goals ensure you know where you want to go and help you set checkpoints you can refer to. They needs to be defined clearly and be definite; they have to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed).
To come back to my personal example, here are a few financial-related-goals I have:

• To be able to afford whichever school they decide to attend
• To be able to travel the world to visit our children and grand-children
• To own a big second house where the whole family can gather for Christmas and Hari Raya

Goals turn into Plans

We finally undertake the final step of the refinement process. We need to break those long-term goals into shorter-term ones; they need to become plans of action. You have to ask yourself what you can do to get closer to each goal. Take a piece of paper and ask yourself the following questions:

• Where do I need to be in 5 years?
• Where do I need to be in 1 year?
• What can I do over the next 6 month to get to the 1 year check-point?
• What can I do over the next month to reach the 6 month one?
• What can I do this week?

Once you answered those questions, you finally have a clear road-map to follow; you know how to reach and fulfill your dream!

The road-map will of course evolve. Some goals will be met, some will change, some will not be needed anymore. What is really important is that you see progress toward your final goal!