46 of My Life Goals & Why You Need to Write Your Own

I learned recently that only 3% of the world’s population actually write down their goals.

When I stepped back and thought about it, I realized I was part of the 97% who didn’t. I know there’s power in setting goals—in setting a vision for your life. But I had never taken the time to do it.

Taking some inspiration from my friend Casey, I asked myself these questions:

• What do I want to do?
• What do I want to see?
• What do I want to be?
• What do I want to have?
• Where do I want to go?
• What do I want to share?

So I fired up the Pomodoro app, set it for 25 minutes, and wrote down as many goals as I could in the given time. As you can see, the list is not well-organized, but that wasn’t the point. I was surprised, encouraged, and delighted at what came out.

Here are life goals I’d like to accomplish in the next 10 years:

1. Make $240,000/year net ($20,000/month) being self-employed.
2. Retire being self-employed.
3. Go to a Superbowl.
4. Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary. [As some have graciously pointed out, this would be impossible to accomplish in the next 10 years. Point? I want to be married for a very long time =)]
5. Take my wife to Maui for our 10th anniversary.
6. Go to a Summer Olympics.
7. Have the college education expenses for my kids set aside before they go to school ($40,000 each).
8. Launch a product that makes over $10,000 in one day.
9. Build a stand-alone office in my backyard, complete with a tunnel leading to the main house.
10. Have a five-bedroom house in the country with a movie theatre, mudroom, walk-in pantry, home office, dining room, professional kitchen, 3-car garage, a prayer chapel w/stained glass windows.
11. Have a converted barn for events on my property.
12. Build a recording studio in my house with podcasting bay and green screen for video recording.
13. Speak at least twice per month.
14. Work with at least 24 churches, nonprofits, small businesses per year to go through the Think Digital Strategy Session.
15. Drop Finn off at least three days per week at elementary school.
16. Drop Evie off at least three days per week at elementary school.
17. Find a cure for Finny’s food allergies.
18. Give Finn & Evie each $25,000 the day they graduate college.
19. Open up a juice bar in Des Moines with my own recipes serving as the menu.
20. Fully fund two Roth IRAs every year starting in 2014.
21. Teach my children how to make at least $5,000 online before they graduate high school.
22. Build an online course for Kerry’s blog, MyWiseMom.com.
23. Tip a server at least $5,000.
24. Go to culinary school.
25. Build a product with my sister.
26. Make the “40 Under 40” list here in Des Moines.
27. See Sade in concert. Go backstage.
28. Eat a meal cooked by Gordon Ramsay.
29. Write a book by the time I’m 40.
30. Have a podcast that pulls in 25K monthly listeners.
31. Have over 100K followers on Twitter.
32. Have a newsletter subscription list of over 25K.
33. Have a staff of at least three people, each who make more money working for/with me than they ever dreamed of (they will have to write a number down and we will smash it together).
34. Go to Ireland with Kerry for two weeks.
35. Buy a rental home in Maui.
36. Hire a cleaning lady, get a quote for weekly cleaning services, and then pay her double the quote–every week.
37. Spend at least two hours 3-5 times per week reading at a coffee shop, taking notes, and enjoying the morning.
38. Go to at least two UNI Men’s Basketball games every season with Christian.
39. Build an organic garden that can sustain our family for at least one month out of the year.
40. Earn my MBA.
41. Have a net worth of 1 MM or more.
42. Make the Inc. 5000 list.
43. Become the Infusionsoft Marketer of the Year by the time I turn 40.
44. Make sure Kerry never has to work outside of the home unless she chooses to.
45. Learn bass guitar.
46. Fly first class on 66% of my flights (airlines hate tall people like me, first class is my only respite).

Like Casey, not everything I wrote down made the list. There are some goals that are just too personal to share with the entire world =)