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Why it is Okay To Fall Short of Your Goals

Mark Ferguson
3 min read
Why it is Okay To Fall Short of Your Goals

Yes, another goal article but it is December and you should expect it.  

I will try to make this article a little different from the normal goal article about how important they are to help you succeed.  To be clear; I think goals are extremely important for success as I wrote about in my Big Goal article.  However, part of making big goals is taking the chance that you won’t accomplish all of them or possibly any of them.  It is okay if you do not accomplish your goals, the point is not to accomplish goals but to do better than you would have done without goals.

Why Even Set Goals?

The point of goals is to make yourself better.  

Goals make you work harder, smarter and make you think of new ways to do things, at least they should.   This is why I am a huge proponent of BIG GOALS.  If you make little goals that are easy to reach are you really challenging yourself?  If I bought 3 long-term rentals in 2013; am I challenging myself if I make a goal to buy to 3 rentals in 2014?  I would say no; I already know I can buy 3 rental properties so it is not a challenge to me.  I challenge to me would be to buy 6, which is my goal for 2014.

I will have to increase the amount of money I make, increase the amount I save, find a different way to buy properties or do something else different to reach that bigger goal.  Having a big goal forces me to improve, change and learn new methods.

Small Goals Promote Complacency

If I were to make small goals like buy 3 rental properties in 2014, which I have already done I may stop at 3.  What if I hit the mother-load and one landlord wants to sell me three properties in March at an amazing price with seller financing?  If I buy three properties in March I probably would try to keep buying properties, but  I would not have that same drive or determination because I already reached my goal.  I have already told myself it is okay if I don’t succeed, because I reached my goal.  I will probably not try as hard to buy more properties with a small goal than I would if I still had to figure out a way to buy three more properties.  Setting small goals allows you to relax.  Once you relax, it is very hard to get back that drive and motivation.

What If I Fail to Reach My Goal and Feel Bad

Who cares!  If you want to succeed in life there is no room for feeling sorry for yourself for not reaching goals.  If you feel bad about not reaching a goal and that affects you in a negative way, you have more pressing items that need fixed than goal setting.  The first thing to remember is that the goal is not the end result you are looking for, but a means to an end.  The goals are meant to push you along your path in life at an increased pace so you can get ahead of the game.

If I only buy 4 or 5 properties in 2014 will I have failed?  No.  I will have probably bought more houses with a big goal than if my goal was to only buy 3 houses.  The big goals keeps pushing you not to give up or get complacent.  The big goal pushed me to do more and try harder than the small goal and that is all that matters.

It May Even be Better Not to Reach Your Goals

This may sound crazy, but if you set a big goal and don’t reach it, it may be a good thing.  If you reach your goal, you naturally slow down (notice a recurring theme yet?).  I set a goal to sell 200 houses in 2013 as  real estate agent and I will not reach that goal.  I will end up selling about 185 houses, which is damn good!  It is much more than I have sold in any other year and the big goal helped push me to do it.  In fact, I didn’t even have to work harder to sell that many houses; I worked smarter.  I ended up taking over my parents real estate team and many of those sales were from other agents on our team.  I have no doubt that the big goals helped push me to take over the business.

Conclusion

Make big goals for 2014 and don’t be afraid if they scare you a little bit.  Imagine how awesome it would be if you accomplished those goals and how it would change your life.  Don’t be afraid to change your goals if you find new and better ways to spend your time.  I’m not saying you can lessen or make your goals easier, but if you had an amazing opportunity don’t let your goals stop you.  If you have a goal to pay off your mortgage and then suddenly you have an investment opportunity that would bring you five times the return of paying off your mortgage; make the investment.

Photo: stuartpilbrow

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.