One of the main reasons Baby Boomers fail as they age is not because they are unproductive people. Rather, what happens to Boomers is what has affected generations of people for years. They are comfortable and fail to do what they did in their younger years when they were active, successful, and productive.
Everyone knows that as you get older, you must set goals. Many boomers have accomplished great things in their work lives. As they begin to retire, some will take the same enthusiasm and apply their experience in their own businesses. Others will become world travelers. However, many will be limited by fears about money, debt, and health concerns.
Right now, I want to share with you a sure way to make this next step in your life the best years of your life.
There are four principles that we will discuss, namely, Be Specific, Make It Measurable, Keep It Realistic, and finally, Take Action Today.
We have all been exposed to goal setting at some stage in life. In the Ministry, some congregations have a goal of raising funds to build a new building. This is commonly known as the “Construction Fund”. Others may be league bowlers and have a tournament where they want to do well. So they practice more, which requires more time, money, and travel, all in pursuit of one goal.
Be specific
No matter what you are looking for, you need to be specific first. If you don’t have a specific goal in mind, you don’t really have a goal. Rather you have a wish. It’s far better to have a goal of losing 15 pounds by your 43rd high school reunion than the opposite of saying, “Oh, I need to lose some weight.” This is simply not specific enough. How much weight do you need to lose? You will never know what you are striving for unless you are specific.
Make it measurable
Any goal, and many ANY goal, needs to be measured. Why? You could have the most noble goals and not know if you are there or beyond. The best example of this comes not only from the business world, but it can be applied to starting a family or taking a vacation.
Suppose you have a goal to earn $ 14,779 per month. If you hit $ 14,778, you haven’t reached your goal, right? But who would not be satisfied with that? Most boomers would. Especially as the retirement years roll in and Social Security seems to produce little to live on. Now if you’ve added measurable items to your goals, you would know in this case when you were halfway to your goal simply by looking at your bank deposit receipts or some pay stubs from your sources of income.
Keep it realistic
You should only set goals that are achievable. Sure, the gurus say that you should set ambitious goals. Extensive goals are those that are “slightly” or, in some cases, totally out of reach. This is really controversial, because the goals are meant to usher in growth. But when you set goals that you know you will never reach, they don’t really inspire, but rather depress your efforts.
Take action today
This final step is really the icing on the cake. Without it, nothing really matters with the other steps. You’ve all seen those commercials the athletic shoe company talks about “just do it”, right? Sure you have. Well that’s what this is all about. Getting your goals off paper and into your life is really about putting it into ACTION.
All you need to do after you’ve set your goal is take the time to write a basic action plan and get going. You must schedule it in your planner. When you do, you avoid the biggest problem of all goal systems, which is not taking action.
Your goals won’t just roll off the page and come true on their own. You have to act. As a Boomer, you have a lot of experience doing a lot of things well. Why not allow those things to fuel your latest endeavors to grow even more?