Your values become dreams

You need to strip down each value you defined yesterday; ask yourself how you want to it answered in the long term; dream where you want to be regarding those values in 10, 20, or 30 years from now. Do not be afraid to dream big; it does not cost much.
To give you an example, two of my strongest values are Family and Freedom. I really cherish those two. They translate into the following dream: Offer freedom of choice to my family, especially my kids.

Dreams become Goals

A dream is an incredible source of motivation. Unfortunately, they are often very distant and difficult to reach; your motivation can quickly fade out if you don’t see progress towards them. That is why you need to break them down into goals. Those goals ensure you know where you want to go and help you set checkpoints you can refer to. They needs to be defined clearly and be definite; they have to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed).
To come back to my personal example, here are a few financial-related-goals I have:

• To be able to afford whichever school they decide to attend
• To be able to travel the world to visit our children and grand-children
• To own a big second house where the whole family can gather for Christmas and Hari Raya

Goals turn into Plans

We finally undertake the final step of the refinement process. We need to break those long-term goals into shorter-term ones; they need to become plans of action. You have to ask yourself what you can do to get closer to each goal. Take a piece of paper and ask yourself the following questions:

• Where do I need to be in 5 years?
• Where do I need to be in 1 year?
• What can I do over the next 6 month to get to the 1 year check-point?
• What can I do over the next month to reach the 6 month one?
• What can I do this week?

Once you answered those questions, you finally have a clear road-map to follow; you know how to reach and fulfill your dream!

The road-map will of course evolve. Some goals will be met, some will change, some will not be needed anymore. What is really important is that you see progress toward your final goal!

What makes you happy?

You read well. You first need to know what defines your happiness. This feeling help you uncover some of your main values, and help you see what you want from life. Your values, and their relative importance, are key to a happy and a healthy life. Defining them precisely can be a long and demanding process *. We are not going into a detailed one here; after all, Rich Snail is not a NLP blog! No, we want to simply find out what makes you happy, so as to later define clear & definite SMART goals.

Which behaviors makes you truly happy?

You need to write down all the behaviors and situations where you feel happiness. You may find out that some of them can make you feel guilty and happy at the same time. Do not be afraid, write them down. Once you have your list, review it, and try to uncover new ways to find happiness without guilt for the entangled-feelings-ones. The resulting list will be your guideline.

Extract your values

The list you just wrote down will help you define your core values as every behavior or situation where you find happiness correspond to a value. You need to go through your list and find them. Analyze, decorticate, penetrate each behavior / situation to extract the value(s) answered there. You should end up with a small list of values. Once you wrote the list down, take a minute and congratulate yourself. We can now start defining and refining your goals.

* You can read the following article NLP & Values to discover more on the value topic.

The SMART Anacronym

1. Specific: Do you have a precise or specific outcome description with your objective?
2. Measurable: Do you have a reliable measurement system in place for your objective?
3. Achievable: Can you achieve your objective with a reasonable amount of effort?
4. Realistic: Do you have the necessary knowledge, authority and skill?
5. Time: Is there a finish and/or a start date clearly stated or defined?

Bad example: I want to be rich (duh! Who doesn’t!!)
Good example: I want to reach $150,000 net worth by 35 by investing $10,000 p.a.

What does it mean to you?

By setting yourself SMART goals you will ensure that you know where you want to go. More importantly, you will have higher chances of fulfilling your goal. How is it so? A SMART Goal lays a clear path for you to follow, and break it down to easy to chew pieces. It will enable you to set reachable milestones, which will help you realize you are making some progress toward your goal. Psychologically it will be a boost to your self-confidence. You know you are on a path to success, and you realize it every time you reach a new milestone.

For me, every new milestone deserves a reward. I usually treat myself to a nice piece of cake. You should always look forward to achieving your goals, and a piece of cake always makes the crossing of the finish line sweeter.

Interesting link to check from very different sources:
How to write SMART objectives – Rapidbi
The Road to Wealth is Paved with Goals – Get Rich Slowly
Create SMART Goals – Self Growth