So have you been thinking about how we’re leaping into a new year?  Do you have your list of New Year’s Resolutions?  Or maybe you have been planning on just tackling some activities that have been awaiting progress or completion?  Nothing too grand, of course…

The good news is it’s a leap year— you get an entire extra day to use to tackle your efforts.

New Decade Resolution/Goals

One extra day is really not enough for me to feel the desire to kick into overdrive mode, but when I stopped and realized this year is the start to a new decade, I got pretty excited.  It’s quite rare to enter a new decade.  [stop here and think about your transitions into each new decade—or even just your physical location entering each decade] 

I’ve always thought about the 19 —”80s,” “90s,” “50’s,” etc.  But, in the 2000 to 2019 timeline, there wasn’t a nice plural description for the decade until now….the 20’s.  For some reason, I think that is super cool.  I’m definitely planning on trying to enjoy the Raving 20s.  We have a whole new decade to grasp the fullest of life.  A whole new decade for the greatness that living today allows.

It’s been said many times that the average American lives far greater than Royalty did only 100 years ago.  That’s quite profound.  We have so many amenities from fantastic home temperature control, unlimited food choices, convenient local transportation, fast and safe global transportation, advanced communications, and state-of-the-art medical care.  Ironically, in the future, our current conveniences will seem ancient and rudimentary. (That’s one reason I want to live a long healthy life…to see the future).

Non Visionaries

When I brought up my enlightened topic of being able to plan for the new decade at a local gathering, someone (a group leader) said: “let’s just think about next year.”  I was shocked and quickly realized that not everyone is able to set a long term goal and structure their small decisions (running just 1 minute can lead to running 1 hour, or more) toward that success target.

I know my skills are not very strategic.  I am far more comfortable with tactics.  I’m better at organizing actions to get to the goal, rather than imagining of future vision/goals.  So I’m suggesting thinking of next year (and its actions) as part of your plan for the decade that awaits you.  Plan a little longer/larger.

Big Plans Can Come True

I have aimed for a few long-term plans that luckily worked out well.  i.e. going to college, losing 100+ pounds in 100 weeks, creating a 7-year early retirement plan, and each of those plans required weekly— if not daily—actions to meet that long term goal I had set for myself.

Each of those three long-term goals tended to accelerate and snowball into a process of its own.  This acceleration was much like the compounding effect.  As progress occurs, it can build upon itself creating a multiplicative effect.

10x

I suggest multiplying your New Year’s goals by 10 (years) and see what happens.  There’s a reason people have written books on 10x-ing your goals!  While those books seem to be based on great stretch goals of 10x higher than you think you can achieve.  There is no reason to use this magical start of a new decade as the perfect time for you to start multiplying your everything.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice.