Create Your Purpose!

Finding purpose

Finding purpose in life is one of the great struggles of our time. Many people spend a lifetime trying to find their purpose in life, and while purpose might come naturally to some people, it seemingly eludes others.

The ironic thing about finding purpose is that it is entirely possible to spend a lifetime LOOKING for purpose, and conversely live a life without purpose.

This is why I have chosen to create my purpose, and adapt it as necessary. I realized a couple of months ago that I could have retired from the military now, walking away from a pension, and led a very successful life. I have come to the realization that the main reason I chose to stay in the military is because of the purpose it brought to my life. There is no greater feeling than waking up excited to go to work, and knowing that you are making a difference in the lives of those around you. I also loved the people I worked with, and the camaraderie that exists within the Marine Corps.

Armed with this knowledge I decided that it was time to start working on what my purpose would be once I am no longer able to wear this uniform. The answer was simple! I wanted to help other people realize their potential, and learn how to reinvest their hard earned cash in order to generate additional income streams to benefit them in life. Financial hardship is one of the largest struggles of married couples, college students, retired persons, and everyone in between. This struggle can lead to unnecessary stress, anxiety, and even depression. I realized that there is a wealth of knowledge I have learned through reading, networking, and investing these past few years that nobody ever told me. Had I known this information, or even where to find it, 5 years sooner I would be exponentially more prepared for the future than I am now.

The purpose of this website is to provide a platform for me to pass these lessons learned to others in an effort to help service members (and non-service members) gain the financial knowledge to live a stress-free, peaceful life.

Creating goals Everybody has heard that setting goals is important, and most of us have tried to set goals before, and failed to achieve them (New Years Resolutions). One of the reasons this cycle perpetuates itself every year is because we know that goals are good, but we don't know how to set goals successfully! Here are a few different philosophies on goal setting that I hope will enable you to set goals successfully for your life. A key thing to remember in setting goals is to set short term, and long term goals. Short term goals are things that can be accomplished within the month, week, or day. While long term goals are aimed at completion within the 1-5 years generally, but can be as far out as you would like. Setting these long term goals is critical because it forces you to plan further into the future. A good strategy that I have found is to use short term goals as stepping stones to accomplish long term goals!

The Marine Corps has taught me that to get results we must set S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Specific - know what you want to accomplish and why. For example, "Run a marathon" is more specific than "run more" or "get in shape."

Measurable - You should be able to measure your goal in order to stay on track. For example, "lose 10 pounds" is measurable, but "lose weight" is not.

Achievable - Is it feasible, do we have power to control this? For example, if your goal requires the work of somebody else, and those relations aren't in place, it might not be achievable just yet.

Relevant - It is a good idea to make goals relevant to each other, or to your life. If my three biggest goals this year are to build a boat, hike the highest mountain on each continent, and become a CEO, I might find that the friction I have created amongst these goals inhibits me from achieving one, or all of them.

Time-bound - Make sure to set a deadline for achieving this goal. Setting a deadline will solidify that this is a real goal, and create a sense of urgency to accomplish it.

I utilize these steps when planning goals for myself, and it had a huge impact on my life!

Prior to learning how to actually set goals I would have done something like this...

"Lose weight, and run faster" "Buy a rental property" "Take another college class" Now these same goals would look something like this...

"I will lose 10 pounds, and complete a Half-Ironman Triathlon prior to July, 2018 (current year)."

"Prior to Dec 31, 2018 I will have purchased three additional rental units, that cash-flow over $100 per unit." "I will have completed my associates degree in business, real estate law-basics, no later than 31 Dec, 2018."

Grant Cardone wrote a book titled "The 10X rule," in which he discusses his approach to setting goals. He would erase the word achievable from the S.M.A.R.T. strategy because it is his belief that achievable goals are setting your sites too low. He believes in taking a goal that you think is achievable, and multiplying it by ten (10X). For example I would take my goal of purchasing three additional rental units, and turn it into a goal to purchase thirty units! The idea is that people tend to let off the gas once they achieve the goal they had set, rather than setting another, larger goal in order to maintain momentum. Grant believes in setting huge goals so that you can rise to the occasion, and accomplish more than what your limiting thoughts believed possible. On the plus side if you fall short of this huge goal, the odds are that you still achieved the little goal you had initially set, and then some.

Napoleon Hill, author of "Think and Grow Rich" says that after setting goals it is crucial to not only write them out as a statement, but to read them (preferable out loud) twice daily. The idea behind this is that by reading your goals in the morning, and evening, they get cemented in your brain, and your brain begins to subconsciously recognize opportunities that present themselves in relation to the goals.

Our goals

This year we set goals in relation to purchasing new property, publishing online courses through Udemy, and eliminate the small amount of remaining bad debt (we will touch on bad debt vs. good debt at a later date).

This website will serve as a way unify and share the information we have learned from careers, investing, building courses, writing books (future), reading self-development books, and living life to the fullest. We would appreciate any feedback, and welcome any questions or recommended topics that you can think of!

As we progress with this blog it is our sincere hope that we can enable others to learn at a younger age those practices which have helped us gain financial freedom, and feel equanimity and excitement when looking into our future.

We want to hear how you set and achieve goals?

Give us a follow at www.frommilitarytomillionaire.com