I’ve recently begun to identify some long and short-term goals that I can realistically accomplish. In previously years, I would set quite arbitrary goals that I knew I couldn’t meet. I also had no real thought process or system established to meet them – no consequences, no rewards.

In her blog, Jenny Blake writes that she decided in 2002 to treat herself on her birthday in 2008 to a diamond ring worth $2000. She gave herself a time limit and the means to accomplish this goal. This is something I’ve never done, regardless of the goal. Here are some of her suggestions:

Steps to Create Your Own Long-Term Reward Goal:

  1. Identify something meaningful to you; something that’s rewarding, exciting and outside of your comfort zone of what you might normally do or buy.
  2. Write a goal for 2-5 years out with the dollar amount attached (Ex: On January 1, 2011 I will purchase an airline ticket to Africa for a two-week safari, at a total cost of $X,000)
  3. Divide your target dollar amount by the number of months from now until your goal’s target date.
  4. Start a separate high-yield savings account for your goal (I really like ING Direct which allows you to create multiple linked accounts with individual names).
  5. Set-up a recurring, automatic deposit of $X/month (based on your earlier calculation) from your regular checking account; I suggest a few days after the first of the month. This allows your new savings account to take on a life of its own and grow without you having to pay attention to it every month. Plus, you’ll get the benefit of compound interest.
    - Life After College

Here are some of my goals – arbitrary ones, big ones – that I will expand upon in another blog.

  • Read more
  • Write more (i.e. this blog!)
  • Learn French (Rosetta Stone)
  • Learn Latin
  • Become financially independent
  • Start networking
  • Live abroad
  • Travel AROUND the world
  • Teach English in a foreign country