Now today I’d love to dig into a topic that is perfect for this time of year and it’s thinking about and planning for the type of impact we’d like to have on the world this year. Just as every day people, you and me, we’re not superheroes we’re not politicians, we’re concerned citizens who want to tap into the power of our money.
If you haven’t already heard episode 104, you may want to hear that one first. It is all about how to process 2023 and think about goals you may have made or even if you didn’t have specific goals, opportunities that you may have grabbed to impact the world in a way that lined up with your values. There were lots of questions in that episode to help you think through all the different categories of our money and ways to make a positive difference in the world.
Now if you’ve already processed last year and you’re ready for this year, let’s talk about what a plan might look like for you.
Now, I don’t really do new year’s resolutions. I used to make them in my 20s and I really got into them I would have categories and subcategories. And I would set SMART goals, you know, they were specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. And then I would completely forget about them by March or April. And then at the end of the year I would go oh wow, I did not remember any of these goals, but I did achieve all these other things. So it was like was the year successful or not? I guess so?
So here’s what I’m going to suggest, and I’m following these same guidelines this year.
I’m going to suggest that we make a very simple goal for the end of the year and then lay out a few examples of how we might get there.
The goal I’m suggesting is a goal of being closer aligned in terms of what we value, what type of world we want to help create, and what we’re doing with our money.
That’s it.
The goal is, on December 31st, to be more aligned than we were on January 1st. To have less of a gap between what we say we believe and what we actually do with our money.
And then I want to encourage you to spend just a few minutes jotting down examples of ways to get one step closer. Maybe you write down 3 or 4 examples. I’ll make some up here.
- I will sign up to be a regular donor to that charity that I like.
- I will petition the HR office at my job to include a socially responsible 401K. And if they say no, I will switch one of my other retirement accounts to a ready made index fund for people who care about climate change.
- I will read a book about social impact and do one thing I read about.
- I will open an account at a community bank.
Now you’re not committing to doing those 3 or 4 actions. You’re not committing to doing a single one of them. What you’re doing is brainstorming ahead of time, what an example of success might look like for you. So that you recognize the opportunity when it presents itself.
I like this approach because you have a singular goal- to gain more alignment between your values and your money, and you’ve taken the time to brainstorm examples of what that could look like which then primes your brain to be subconsciously looking out for these opportunities.
So there’s much less pressure and overwhelm.
Now there’s still one big challenge as there is with all new year goals, I mentioned it before, remembering that you even made the goal or set the intention.
So let’s both go to our calendars right now and make an appointment with ourselves. Now what I’m going to do is to literally copy and paste my little paragraph, my overall goal of gaining more alignment between my values and my money and my 3 or 4 examples and I’m going to copy and paste that paragraph right into my calendar. And I’m looking for a week in July, I’m going to pick the second week in July and I’m going to put an appointment for one hour on that Monday to check in and see how it is going. Matter of fact, just to be sure that I do this, I am going to put the appointment twice that week, I’m going to put a slot on my calendar on that Monday and on that Friday of that week with the paragraph copied and pasted. A mid year check in just to remind myself of my intention and see if anything has popped up yet.
I’d love to hear about the way you’re thinking about this upcoming year and how you’ll try to live in more alignment with your values.
You can email progressivepockets at gmail dot com. Maybe this exercise today got you thinking about a few topics you’d like to hear on the show. I’m working on a couple of episodes right now that I think you’ll enjoy.
In the meantime, you can find the backlog of over 100 episodes at progressivepockets dot com. What else? Twitter, the handle is progressive pockets without any vowels. I know, it’s annoying, what can I say, it’s Twitter. I’ll see you there.
Let’s end with a quote that I think perfectly fits today's post:
“The way to get ahead is to get started.” Mark Twain.