On your marks, get set, GOALS!

Financial success is not only for Jay Z, Tyra Banks and Oprah Winfrey. Anyone can access it, but, first you must define it. You must decide what financial success means to you, $100,000? $1,000,000? $1,000,000,000? Once you define it, then you can start planning to get it. The clearer your vision is, the more likely you are to navigate your way to financial success.

International model Tyra Banks was a teenager with a successful modelling career when she decided her goal was to become a talk show host. So, she did a few guest-host segments on the Oprah Winfrey show and today, Banks is the host of her own talk show, The Tyra Banks show.

Rapper Jay Z is known for spitting well-sewn up raps over beats produced by top-producers such as Kanye West, but he was a teen fighting to make ends meet in the projects of Brooklyn, New York before he became successful. Abandoned by his father and struggling in high school, Jay Z developed his rap on the streets, but his goal was to get his music heard. Rejected by record labels, he refused to give up on his goal and developed his own record label Roc-a-fella. The rest is history. Jay Z has not just become the most successful name in hip-hop, he has also earned the title of mogul as CEO of Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella Records.

Their stories are different, but Tyra Banks and Jay Z’s success are examples of how goal setting works. The earlier you decide what you want and set the goals to accomplish it, the faster you will attain the success you crave. Follow these main tips, and you’ll be well on your way to your own financial success.

• Be explicit and precise when setting your goals. It may be your dream to be a millionaire by age 30 but you need to be more precise. For example, your goal could be, “I want to earn a salary of $25,000 per month by next March. When you do that, you can then look for the jobs that pay that kind of salary and put a plan in place to get the qualifications to get that job.
  
  
• Your Goal must be Written – You must write down your plan and store it where it is always in your face.
  
  
• Your goal must be time-based. A goal without a deadline isn’t worth the paper it is written on. Set deadlines for all your goals and review them constantly. Don’t procrastinate. ‘Doh stick’ unless it is to your promise.
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  Goals should be realistic. It is unrealistic to say you want to aim for Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey’s job by next month. But it is realistic for you to say that you want to become a computer expert and open a technology based company, or take a communications course and become the number one local Television presenter.
  
  
• Your goal must be relevant. Your goals must relate to your own personality, passion, visions and intentions. If you are not passionate about your goals, you are fighting an uphill battle. If you want a lesson in passion, just look at Soca Superstar Machel Montano’s facial expressions when he sings. He clearly loves what he does and he gets paid very well to do it.
  
  
• Plan for the financial side of your dream – If you want to become a graphic artist, you may need to put aside money for a course. If you want to become a fighter pilot, you may need to save some money for a ticket to go abroad and join an Airforce. If you want your house by 30 years old, you need to start saving for your down payment and legal fees today. Be realistic and get started.
  

Think carefully, choose wisely, set your GOALS and Go blaze those trails.

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