Goals and Being S.M.A.R.T.

I used to be one for S.M.A.R.T. goals. I guess it appealed to the engineer in me that I could set and achieve a goal which was specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound. It seems to make absolute sense that I could break a goal (compete in a triathlon) into its component parts (swim, bike, run, transitions), tick them off progressively (learn to run, gradually increase the distance no more than X%, improve swimming stroke efficiency, increase swimming distance to Y km), and magically achieve anything I wanted.

However. My mindset was insufficiently flexible to accommodate injuries (shin splints), illness (usual winter colds), work travel (too many aeroplanes and airports, jetlag, also see illness). I would become horribly disappointed with myself that I was unable to stick to such a simple concept. At the first challenges I would realise that my goal was at risk and become disillusioned and demotivated.

I threw away the whole concept of S.M.A.R.T. goals as I regarded them as a negative influence on my psyche.

In some ways, though, being able to state ones goal out loud is tremendously motivating. When each individual decision comes up that will either take me closer towards my goal or further away I can make a conscious decision recognising the true impact of that decision and explain it to otheres Ideally of course, we outsource most of these decisions so that we dont have to decide at all.

As I've mentioned before I'm trying to pay down as much mortgage as I can so I can do a period of travel. Specifically, I'd like to take a year off and rent my house out to travel by bike overseas. As I need the house to be self-supporting financially while I'm away there is a certain amount of debt the rent can carry. That is very measurable. I've made a bunch of assumptions in my magic spreadsheet including interest rates, rental income, and the costs of management and maintenance.  I need to have my house debt below 150k to kinda break even though admittedly at this level I've been a bit conservative about rental income and interest rates.

Its also very achievable in the next few years - well, according to my magic spreadsheets at least! Each month I see a significant amount of principal getting paid off  which is definitely helped by the current low interest rates. All going well I should get there sometime in 2017 and travel in 2018. Which makes it also both realistic and timebound.

I think the difference at the moment is that I have enough buffer to cope with the ups and downs. I have a healthy emergency fund that is sitting there gathering interest and money is allocated monthly as soon as I get paid for my core bills.

When the goal is close enough to be conceivable this is like gold dust for your motivation! But, its also so close that I'm constantly tempted to spend money on bike or bike accessories or travel guides for some of the routes.... The self sabotaging part of my brain kicks in. It likes to plan ahead and be prepared, but should I indulge it I might lose the progress I'm making.

No, I dont need a new bike now. Lets flog the ones I've got for another 2 years. Maps and travel guides change. Get them at the time; get them as I go (as I'm not going to want to carry it with me!)

These conscious decisions are eroding my ability to focus on that which matters, which is keeping my costs low and therefore the rate of debt paydown. The default answer to all these ideas has to be no as they consume so much mental energy, not to mention computer and internet time.

I need to save my energy to make conscious decisions that matter.  To cook the beans from my garden, not buy brocolli from the supermarket. To cook the multitude of frozen berries in my freezer, not buy treats or sweets. To fix my bikes with the parts I have in the basement, not solve all my problems at the bike shop. To do the maintenance on my house myself, as I know I can figure it out if I take the time. To lend my time and car/strimmer/waterblaster/axe as much as possible to those near me, and not be afraid to ask for support when my jobs need a second pair of hands.
These are the conscious decisions that matter.

Who knows, I might actually manage to achieve a SMART goal. Stay tuned!