2016 is here which means it’s time to set goals!
Some bloggers share monthly goals but I prefer to stick to only sharing yearly goals. While it’s important to realize how quickly priorities can change over the course of a year, I think there is a ton of value in identifying what you want to work towards.
I love setting goals because it gives me a sense of direction and forces me to think about how I can accomplish them.
If you haven’t set goals yet for 2016 consider checking out Erin’s awesome post 100 Goals to Focus on for a Successful Year.
A few other good posts about goals and goal-setting are How to Turn Your Financial Goals Into a Game, 5 Financial Goals Everyone Should Work Towards, and How to Accomplish Goals by using the “Financial Bridge” Technique.
I spent some time throughout December thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in 2016 and I came up with 8 goals. Below are my goals for 2016, in order from most important to least important.
1) Have a Successful Book Release
My first book, Hustle Away Debt, comes out in May. Having a successful book release is my top priority this year.
What does a successful book release look like? I set the following benchmarks:
Base Goal: 1,000+ book sales
Stretch Goal: 5,000+ book sales
I haven’t actually talked numbers yet with the marketing team, so these numbers may not be good benchmarks, but it’s better than having an ambiguous goal of a “successful” release. I may tweak them after discussing expectations with the sales and marketing team.
How I am going to do it:
Prioritize marketing and promotion of this book. Work with my publisher’s marketing and sales team to do whatever I can to make the chance of success better. Make this goal a priority over other goals I have this year. This will be a time-consuming goal as it will likely require writing guest posts, giving interviews, and in general putting in the time and effort to get the word out.
2) Have a Successful Year in My New Job
A couple months ago I received a promotion and took on new responsibilities at my 9-5. I want to do whatever I can to make sure my first year in this role a successful one.
Some may think that having so many goals outside of work will conflict with my 9-5, but there is a lot that can be done in a 40+ hour work week to be more productive and make good use of my time.
Most people in 9-5 jobs (myself included) end up wasting time throughout the day or focus on things that are not priorities. There is always opportunities to perform better within a 9-5, though it does sometimes mean working longer hours during busy times.
How I am going to do it:
- Prioritize tasks/responsibilities better – Focus on the most important things first. Spend less time on less-important tasks/responsibilities.
- Plan my time better – Continue to use a to-do list and schedule my time effectively. Plan ahead for busier times and do what I can to “work ahead” for those busy times.
- Delegate work – Now that I have two employees that I can hand off work to I need to release control over some processes and hand things off. Being patient with transition of tasks and being okay with things not being done exactly how I would do them is key. Long-term this will help me develop management skills and prepare myself for even more responsibility down the road.
Ultimately my goal here is to do good work that reflects well on myself, my manager, my team, and my company. I want to spend the next year becoming a more knowledgeable and polished employee. I also want to continue to build on my reputation of being a dependable team member who will get things done when they need to get done.
3) Build My Blog and Brand
While I typically do not share blog goals, stats, or really much at all about the “behind-the-scenes” of my blog, I do realize that many people who read this blog are either bloggers themselves or have thought about starting a blog. I thought it would make sense to share a little about my goals for building my blog in 2016.
Before doing that, though, I do want to call out my nearly 5,000 word post I wrote about 30+ ways to improve your blog. Many of the things on this list are things that I want to focus on in 2016.
Below are some of my blog goals for 2016, as well as how I will accomplish them.
- Full redesign of website – I’ve been planning a redesign for over two years. Twice I’ve hired designers. Twice I’ve cut ties with designers early in the process. Over Christmas I wrote requirements for a redesign and reached out to a few promising designers. This has to be done before the book comes out in May so it’s a top priority in 2016.
- Full redesign of email newsletter – To use a kind word our email newsletter is “minimalist.” I have no desire to spend the time designing and coding a new one, but we desperately need something new. I’d like to get it coordinated with the new design so that the brand is consistent across all platforms.
- Plan content further in advance – While I’ve had a good process going with my writers, it would be great to have 2+ months of content planned out on our editorial calendar.
- Find tasks that can be outsourced – While I do have a couple of writers who do a fantastic job writing most of the content on the site, I do virtually everything else myself. I need to look for opportunities to outsource some of those tasks so I have more time/capacity to invest in my site in other value-added ways.
- Reinvest 50%+ of income – Most bloggers, myself included, do not reinvest much of their blog earnings. Next year I want to reinvest as much as possible to build a strong brand and provide more value to readers.
- Stretch: Set up separate personal website – I put this as a stretch goal because I don’t see it as a top priority, but I can see it being beneficial if/when I write my second book or get involved in other websites/ventures and want one consolidated place to showcase my work.
The theme this year for my blog goals is this: invest and provide value. I want to build the Young Adult Money brand and create a website that is known for providing high-quality content, tools, and resources. I don’t want it to be like “every other site” and want to create the infrastructure necessary for a site that stands out.
4) Crush the first semester of my MBA
Some long-time readers are likely sick of hearing about me going back and forth about the MBA. After all, I’ve been writing posts off and on about it for over 3 years now.
As I explained in my 2015 goals review post I was all set to start my MBA last Fall when I received a book deal. I decided to delay my MBA a semester while I wrote the book.
So what does it mean to “crush” my first semester of my MBA? I think it’s fairly simple:
- Get an “A” in my first class – Pretty simple. I have a strategic management class this semester and I’d like to start things off on the right foot.
- Test out of 1 class – In your first semester of the MBA program you can test out of up to 3 courses. These tests are not easy and unfortunately after you are out of school 5+ years it simply takes time to study enough to pass the tests. I plan on at minimum testing out of the Finance waiver exam.
- Stretch Goal: Test out of 3 classes – In a world where I did not have a blog to manage or a book to promote I think I’d be able to test out of the maximum number of courses (3), but it really isn’t a realistic goal. I’ll leave it here as a stretch goal since I have no idea how I would accomplish it.
If I can achieve the first two sub-goals that will be a success in my book. With so much else going on in my life I don’t anticipate being able to test out of 2 additional courses.
5) Renovate our Bathroom
We bought a house that is a bit of a fixer-upper and basically we need to gut and renovate every part of it over the course of the next 5-8 years that we live here. The bathroom on the main level is a top priority. It’s been neglected for
How I am going to do it:
If you asked me a year ago I would have told you that I would take the time to gut and renovate the bathroom myself. I have a friend who is a teacher who went that route and his bathroom looks incredible. His life is much different than mine, though. He’s a teacher who has the Summer off so he was able to slowly renovate it. I simply do not have that luxury and my free time is very limited due to other goals.
Instead I’ll hire a contractor to do it. Victoria and I will discuss what we want it to look like and then collect bids from at least 3 contractors. I have done a lot of research on Angie’s List so I feel like I have a good idea of how much this will cost. I would love to delay this project but the bathroom has been neglected for years and it really needs to be completely redone.
6) Outdoor Landscaping
Last Summer I took on a massive retaining wall project in our backyard. It took hours and hours of work and I’m very happy with the outcome. You can see before/after pics in my 2015 goals review post.
What we have left as of today is some additional backfilling/grading of the area behind the wall. Victoria and I also decided that now was the time to fix any grading problems in the front yard since, well, the machinery used for the retaining wall basically killed all the grass in our front yard.
How I am going to do it:
As far as the front yard and retaining wall is concerned, it really would just require moving dirt around and potentially getting a load of dirt dropped off for us to grade the front yard better. Finally we’d have to lay sod or plant grass seed.
The one wrench that gets thrown into the mix is the rest of our backyard. There is one more section of our yard that would greatly benefit from being leveled out and having a short retaining wall installed. Problem is that retaining wall would stretch something like 70+feet.
Throughout this process we’d also likely have the power lines buried, which I have no idea how much that would cost.
With how much else is going on next year I will put anything beyond the front and backyard as a “stretch” goal. It simply might not happen this year, and I’m okay with that.
7) Go on Vacation
This may seem like a silly goal to some people, but my wife and I rarely take time out for ourselves unless we are on vacation. That happens about one week out of the year. My wife takes classes for her masters literally from about September through July with virtually no break at all.
We have an $800 travel voucher from our free Hawaii trip that we need to book within a couple weeks here. We actually just discussed this last weekend and we should have this booked by the time this post goes live.
8) Cash $5k+ in poker tournaments
If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you know that I started to play poker quite a bit starting last July. I used to play a lot more during college and prior to last July only played about once a year for a three year stretch.
I started to play more because it’s a way for me to take my mind off things and, to be quite frank I think I’m a fairly talented player who has a shot at cashing high in a poker tournament.
How I am going to do it:
To actually cash over $5k in poker tournaments means I need to play in tournaments. I plan on playing somewhere around 10-30 tournaments in 2016 with some of them having buy-ins of $200+.
This goal is not a top priority for me, though, and there is a lot of variance when it comes to poker. I could easily lose every tournament I play even if I play “perfectly.” So this is more a fun goal that I’d like to challenge myself to and give myself a chance to potentially succeed.
What these Goals Reveal
I didn’t just sit down one day and crank out these goals. I thought about them for most of December and I truly think they illustrate well what I’m pursuing in 2016. I think they revealed a few things:
- One thing that is missing is any sort of physical health goal. I stay in “decent” shape but it’s simply not a huge priority for me next year. I’m willing to sacrifice some in this area if it means I can accomplish other goals on my list.
- Another thing missing was social/relationship goals. My wife is in grad school and we don’t have kids, so I see this as an ideal time to also push hard in career/business/school goals as well. We are planning on scheduling dates to make sure we carve out at least some time to grow in our relationship, but this is definitely an area where I need to be intentional about not playing second fiddle to my goals list.
- Finally I didn’t list any religious goals. My wife and I were very active in our church, specifically the 20-something ministry, but our church went through a long process of deterioration and essentially everyone has left. We are no longer committed members of any church and we feel okay with that. We do have a group of Christian friends we meet with weekly that we have made a priority. Ultimately I feel like I don’t have to have specific “religious” goals to continue to grow in my faith.
So there you have it, all my 2016 goals and how I plan on accomplishing them! I hope you had fun reading this post and I’ll be giving a mid-year and end-of-year update, hopefully with good news.
What is your top goal for 2016? What do you hope you can look back on in 2016 and say you accomplished?
Photo by Guudmorning!
Laura Beth @ How To Get Rich Slowly says
These are aggressive well-thought out goals that you can definitely nail this year! Will be rooting for you David.
DebtDiscipline says
Looks like its going to be a busy, but exciting year DC! Best of luck in 2016! Our 2016 is a back to basics type year, building wealth, e-fund, retirement, college, etc.
holly@clubthrifty.com says
Nice! I like it. Our goals are to stay in shape and keep growing our online businesses. I should probably get more specific than that! =)
FrugalRules says
Love your list of goals DC, they’re especially well thought out. Our main goals this year are to move and grow our business more. I’ll have the added responsibility of managing my Dad’s estate for a good chunk of the year, from what I’m finding now at least, so that’ll require pretty significant focus on my part to get to where we want this year.
Beachbudget says
Well one thing I can see from your posts is you are very driven! lol! But, just reading it makes me exhausted. I know you said you are going to try to outsource so hopefully that helps, but I guess I just hope you try and make time for yourself, aside from one vacation. :) I say this with love…make sure you have downtime too!
Eyesonthedollar says
Those are some ambitious goals. I think it’s a great time to get things done before having kids but also remember to do fun stuff as well because that all gets pushed to the back burner once you do decide to expand the family.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Laura Beth @ How To Get Rich Slowly Thanks Laura Beth! I appreciate the vote of confidence : )
DC @ Young Adult Money says
DebtDiscipline Great goals, Brian! I’m hoping some of my “performance” type goals will result in a bump to my finances all around.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
holly@clubthrifty.com Haha well it’s pretty straightforward for you, right? Increased income YOY = goal accomplished!
DC @ Young Adult Money says
FrugalRules Those are some big goals, John. You seem like a very motivated individual, so I’m sure you will accomplish everything you want.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Beachbudget I appreciate you being honest with me. I’m a bit concerned it’s all just “too much.” I think prioritizing my goals will help with being able to say no to things.
dafireguy says
It’s great goal lists like this that help inspire me to do more and always be improving on things in all areas of my life. Looking forward to a successful and productive 2016.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Eyesonthedollar It’s a struggle for sure. It’s a good time to work hard but I agree once we have kids our time will be crunched even more, making less time for fun/downtime.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
dafireguy Thanks! Here’s to both of us having a successful 2016.
AbigailP says
Wow, that’s a lot of goals!
I try not to set specific goals because then if I don’t make them, I’m *really* hard on myself and tend to give up. But I do want to increase my blog income. It’s paltry now, so I’d like to get it to being slightly less paltry. Still nothing compared to what a lot of bloggers make.
I need to increase our IRA contribution too. It’s pretty low, but finding another $200 in the budget will be tough, since we’re trying to find ways to cover the $766 that’s disappearing from our income.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
AbigailP Yes, 8 goals is quite a few! But I think going through the process of laying them all out was a good one. It forced me to think about what I really want to accomplish next year, as well as what is a higher/lower priority.
That’s tough to lose $766/month, but from everything you’ve written on your site I know you are extremely resourceful. If you can make up some (or all) of it through blog income that would be a big win!
SimplySave says
Great goals! I really enjoyed getting my MBA. Best of luck!
Jason @ The Butler Journal says
Those are a lot of good goals. I know you will be able to make them happen. I look forward to reading about it.
deardebt says
Wow! I got tired just reading that :) I know you will do well! Good luck!
DC @ Young Adult Money says
SimplySave Thanks! Glad to hear someone weigh in on the MBA goal! I’m excited to start but concerned about how it will fit in my schedule. I’ll make it work one way or another.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Jason @ The Butler Journal Appreciate the vote of confidence, Jason! I won’t let you down!
DC @ Young Adult Money says
deardebt Haha you aren’t the only person who said that ; ) Thanks!
Hannah UnplannedFinance says
Even though I’m guessing you’ll crush 3-4 of the goals, you probably won’t hit all 8, and that’s all right. People tend to overestimate what they can do in a year but underestimate what they can do in ten years. Eventually that bathroom will be done, and eventually you too can stop being the redneck neighbor.
And you’re right, right now is the time for you to crush career/school goals because you will need to back off if you decide to have kids, or you’ll eventually want to back off to give more room for relationships to grow.
Best of luck in 2016! (oh, and delegate like crazy, new managers don’t do that enough).
blonde_finance says
Wow!! You have a huge year planned out for yourself DC! I’m so excited for your book launch and definitely let me know anyway that I can help you make it a success. My big goal for 2016 is to sell my company to a larger financial services company. I want the resources and services I provide to be available on a larger scale sooner than later and the best way to accomplish this is to partner with a larger firm. I definitely plan to stay on and make this big expansion a reality, so I have my fingers crossed that I find the right partner for this endeavor.
LovetteMacc says
Wow I thought I over did it! I’m excited to follow the journey!
Financial Tour Guide says
You have some lofty goals for 2016 DC! You do know there’s only 365 days in a year right? :)
Obviously it’s always best to set the bar high. Best of luck on the book deal, I’m sure it’ll be a great success.
DebtChronicles says
I like how your goals span many different interests and aspects of your life. Some work, some blog, some personal, some home and some just for fun. I wish you success on having an amazing year. :)
lifeandabudget says
You have quite a set of nice goals to achieve here! I am excited to hear about your book. I’ve been looking for 2 more books to add to my list to read this year and your’s is definitely going down. I can’t wait!
Millennial Boss says
Those goals are “SMART” goals! Great work! Looking forward to checking out the book.
houseoftre says
Wow! 2016 is going to be a great year. Just don’t burn yourself out. I think I missed the promotion – Congrats!
stefanieoconnel says
You’ve got a great year ahead. I’m in awe. I can barely keep up and I don’t even have a 9-5!
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Hannah UnplannedFinance Thanks for the advice, Hannah! I definitely recognize that I won’t hit all 8 goals. Some are “easy” and probably shouldn’t even be called goals (go on vacation? really?), but I think I have a good idea of what I will prioritize this year and what I’m willing to let fall off.
I need to get better at delegating. It’s tough to go from “take as much work on as I can” to “let some things go and be okay with it not being done 100% my way.” It’ll be a learning experience for me.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
blonde_finance That’s a great goal, Shannon! I think a lot of people don’t think big picture the way you do and I’m sure you will find the perfect partner. It’ll be a win-win for everyone involved and it’s so great that you have that mindset.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
LovetteMacc Haha thanks. I definitely sometimes take on too much, but this year I think I have a good grasp on what I really want to accomplish versus what I’m willing to let drop off the radar.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Financial Tour Guide Thanks a ton! Haha yes, and I recognize that some of these goals are simply not going to happen.
Thanks for the kind words! It’s tough to know what to expect with a first book!
DC @ Young Adult Money says
DebtChronicles Thanks Travis! I tried to think of all areas of my life when I made this goal, hence why I had a bit of reflection at the bottom about what was missing. Different seasons of life call for different priorities, and I think I have a clear plan of what I want this year to look like.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
lifeandabudget Thanks so much! You will have to let me know what you think of the book – for better or for worse. It’s my first book so I don’t know what to expect as far as reaction, but I am going into it with an open mind and look forward to hearing what people think of it.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Millennial Boss Thanks! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the book!
DC @ Young Adult Money says
houseoftre Thanks! I don’t think I “publicized” the promotion much and I still am shocked at how well it worked out for everyone involved (others were promoted with the team shifting around as well). I am definitely at risk of burnout. I think the saving grace is that I get a decent amount of PTO at my work. I will need to take advantage of that if I’m hitting a wall.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
stefanieoconnel Thanks Stefanie! I am humbled by your comment because I see you crushing it week-after-week with all of your appearances and always pushing the envelope.
ferventfinance says
Good luck in 2016! Those are some great goals.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
ferventfinance Thanks! Probably taking on too much but hopefully I can tick off the high-priority goals!
Chonce says
I love how your goals are so detailed and strategic. It sounds like you have a lot on your plate and I can’t wait to see how well everything goes this year!
RFIndependence says
Congrats on the book deal DC, that’s huge! That’s a lot of goals, I don’t know where you find the hours in the day but that is very impressive, best of luck and have a great year.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Chonce Thanks Chonce! I spent more time and energy on planning my goals this year than ever before. I hope it pays off.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
RFIndependence Thanks! I will say this – anyone can set a lot of goals, so don’t be impressed at that. I need to actually knock out these goals for it to be impressive!
brian_robben says
Love these stretch goals and this post in general. Wish you success on your upcoming book launch. And since I also host a blog for young adults and we share similar audiences, let me know if you want to publicize your book on my site through a guest post or interview. My site is http://www.takeyoursuccess.com if you want to check it out.
AlisonWilkins says
Congratulations on your book deal! Just saw Greg’s post on Club Thrifty, and ordered my copy!