Financial Freedom Series: Goals Are Not Enough. You Need a System.

Welcome back to our Financial Freedom Series, where we’re looking into God’s Blueprint for Building Wealth and Managing Your Money Well!

We dive into biblical principles and cutting-edge money management wisdom to help you…

• Honor God with your money
• Build wealth
• Shrink your debt
• And build toward financial freedom

“But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce  wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:18) 

“Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5) 

“I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8) 

“The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets.”  (Proverbs 21:20) 

“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” (Proverbs  22:7) 

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8) 

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12) 

It is your time to dare to dream. 
It is time to reset your goals. 
It is time to rekindle your passion. 
It is time to aim high. 
It is time to attempt great things with God. 
It is time to live on purpose. 
It is time to reignite your vision. 
It is time to be fruitful. 
It is time to get positioned for God to 
catapult you into your destiny. 

Your best days are ahead of you.

Over the past few weeks, we have looked at the importance of having a dream and setting goals…

Many have lost vision, purpose, passion, and hope, and are just going through the motions, feeling disillusioned and down. 

I believe it is time to lift your head and dream again. With God’s help, you can turn your life around. You can get back up. 

During this series we have encouraged you to face your debt and we have given you the tools to deal with it.

We have encouraged you to DARE TO DREAM, LIFT THE LID, and SET GOALS.

As a reminder, we suggest that… 

1. YOU NEED A VISION

• “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” —Proverbs 29:18

2. YOU NEED TO SET SOME GOALS 

• Last week we looked at a simple way to set goals by asking 4 simple questions. 

3. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS, AS SOMETHING POWERFUL HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO THIS.

• “And the Lord answered me and said, ‘Write down the vision clearly on tablets, so that even a runner can read it.’” —Habakkuk 2:2

4. DON’T GO AFTER YOUR DREAMS ALONE. SURRENDER YOUR GOALS TO GOD

• “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you.” —Psalm 37:3-5
• “Commit your actions to the LORD and your plans will succeed.” —Proverbs 16:3

5. YOU NEED A SYSTEM, A WORKABLE EASY-TO-FOLLOW STRATEGY TO TURN YOUR GOALS AND DREAMS INTO A REALITY 

MANY SET GOALS BUT ARE LEFT FRUSTRATED AS THEY BATTLE TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON THEIR DREAMS AND GOALS.

TODAY, WE WILL LOOK AT HOW TO SET UP A SYSTEM TO MAKE IT EASY TO BUILD TOWARD ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS. 

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true there is life and joy.” —Proverbs 13:12

Today, I will share a few extracts from my new book, DARE TO DREAM, on how to develop a strategy for accomplishing your goals and dreams.

THE SYSTEM

The Vital Cog That Turns Your Plans into an Easy-to-Follow Process

Your strategic plan is your long-term step-by-step blueprint of what you need to do to accomplish your goals and make your dreams a reality.

With a dream and a plan, you are 80% there. But the vital, often missing, cog in the wheel is all about developing a SYSTEM to help you stick to your process. 

A SYSTEM is simply a set of links that work together as parts of a mechanism. Your system is about building good habits and implementing a simple step-by-step process to turn your dreams and goals into reality.

Once you build your system, it will become part of your routine and simply a way of life.

Good habits usually lead to success, while bad habits lead to destruction. 

It is often challenging to start when you change your habits, but if you practice good habits, regularly repeat them, and let them become part of your daily routine, you’ll adjust. Eventually, they will become part of your usual way of life.

Your system is simply a set of EASY-TO-FOLLOW SET OF GOOD HABITS that you introduce into your life that will make your life simple to follow through on.

If you want something you have never had, you have to do something you have never done! 

It would be best if you had a no-exception policy so that you stick to your new habits no matter what happens. 

Get disciplined. Get determined. 

Sometimes, it is good to be flexible, but when it comes to your goals and dreams, you must be inflexible. Don’t compromise. Be single-minded. Make your habit a consistent practice until it becomes part of your way of life.

GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NOT ENOUGH

Your dreams and goals for the future cannot just be a casual wish. It would be best to make a firm, determined decision to follow through. 

At the start of last year, a friend of mine, Bob, posted that starting 1 January, he would run 5 km daily. A month into the new year, he had not even started running yet! 

In the same way, I know many who have dreams they so dearly want to achieve but have not followed through. 

Here is the crux: You need to develop an AUTOMATED SYSTEM consisting of good habits that are EASY to accomplish and can help you FOLLOW THROUGH to reach your dreams. 

Some see setting goals as a waste of time because they never follow through. Many start with good intentions but often struggle to follow through.

In his bestselling book, Atomic Habits, which I recommend you read to form good habits,  James Clear said, “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.” He said, “Don’t just focus on your goals, but focus on your system instead.” 

If you want to succeed at seeing your dreams and goals pass, you need to…

• DARE TO DREAM
• SET UP A PLAN TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS
• BUILD GOOD HABITS
• BE RESOLUTE – MAKE A DETERMINED DECISION TO FOLLOW THROUGH   
• DEVELOP YOUR SYSTEM 

YOUR SYSTEM

To set up a system that will work for you, you need to look at your dreams, plan, and create a simple STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS that you can build into your life.

Your process needs to be EASY-TO-FOLLOW and must become a habit, a part of your REGULAR ROUTINE so that it becomes AUTOMATIC.

It is good to set goals and have big dreams. This is an important starting point, but all the good intentions will not bring your plans to fruition without YOUR SYSTEM.

If you can get your system working, you will make it easy to get from where you are to where you want to be with the least effort possible.

MAKE IT EASY TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

I want you to consider seven questions that can make it easier to develop a winning strategy…

1. What ADVICE do you need?

• If your goal is to build wealth or save up for a specific dream, then meet with a Financial Advisor who can comprehensively analyze where you are and what you need to do to achieve your goal. 
• Whether it be building up enough money to fund an international family holiday five years from now, wanting to buy your dream home, or planning to save up sufficient wealth for your retirement, a Financial Advisor will be able to help you construct a realistic and achievable plan to help you make your dream come to reality, while also ensuring that you have the proper protections in place on the road towards financial freedom. 
• A Financial Advisor can also help you come up with the most appropriate structure and fund selection to help you achieve your specific goals.  
• Seeking a professional’s ADVICE will make it easier to accomplish your plans. 

2. What do you need to ELIMINATE?

• To make it easy to achieve your goals, you may need to eliminate some things that are getting in the way and sabotaging your plans.
• If you want to settle debt or build up a wealth portfolio, you must review your budget. What non-essentials can you cut out of your budget for a season to free up space so you can use the extra cash to squash your debt or build up your savings and investments?
• What are the dream-stealers that you need to eliminate?

3. What do you need to ADD?

• To make it easy to achieve your goals, you may need to get a few items to make it easier to stick to your plans.
• Do you need to invest in a book to learn how to set goals or manage your money better? 
• Do you need to build your knowledge by studying?
•  What do you need to ADD?

4. What can you AUTOMATE?

• Imagine if you could set up a system that will automatically lead to achieving your goals…
• This is possible with many of your financial goals. Once you know how much and where you will invest to achieve a specific purpose, you can automate it by setting up a bank debit or stop order. This will ensure that the money allocated to your goal is automatically deducted from your bank account each month on a specific date before you are tempted to spend that money. 
• You will then make it easy to achieve your financial dreams without the hassle of automating.

5. Can you SCHEDULE it?

• If you want to follow through on your plans, it would be best to put it in your diary, making it easy to achieve your goals.
• Book the time out to review your budget and your investments monthly.
• What do you need to SCHEDULE?

6. Can you add ACCOUNTABILITY?

• If you are accountable to the right people, there is a higher chance that you will achieve your goal.
• If your goal is to settle debt or build up for a holiday, can you get a friend to join you? You won’t be tempted to spend money allocated to a trip if your friend is negatively impacted.                                                                                     
• What can you do to build ACCOUNTABILITY into your plans? 

7. Can you PREPARE well?

• If you prepare well, you can make it easy to follow through.
• To build wealth, you must keep a close eye on your finances.
• By PREPARING well, you will make it easier to follow through on your goals.

CONSIDER HABIT STACKING

• This involves combining certain activities to free up time and “kill two birds with one stone”, as the saying goes.
• Can you combine a few related tasks?
• HABIT STACKING can allow you to combine similar tasks, freeing time and making it easy to follow through.  

ADD TRIGGERS

Can you create TRIGGERS?

• Triggers can help you to stick to your plans.
• Your TRIGGER can be anything to remind you to follow through on your goal. When you build the triggers into your schedule, they will eventually become part of your daily routine.

BACK TO BOB

I started our financial freedom tip by telling you about my friend, Bob, who set the goal of running 5 km every day, but a month after setting the plan, he had not even put his running shoes on yet. 

If Bob had developed a system, he would have had a greater chance of achieving his goal.

Let me show you how…

• Bob has a GOAL of running 5 km per day. ?
• Bob needs to make a FIRM DECISION to follow through. ?
• Bob needs a PLAN. He must decide on a route he will run and get a pair of running shoes. ?
• Bob now needs a SYSTEM…

Let’s help Bob create an easy-to-follow system to help him achieve his goal…

• Bob needs to prepare well by setting out his running shoes before he goes to bed.
• Bob can create a trigger by setting his alarm each morning an hour earlier to make time to run.
• Bob needs to schedule the time to run each morning in his diary.
• Bob can make it more realistic by choosing to run four times a week.
• Bob could ask a friend to join him. By running with a friend, he will be kept accountable and make it fun. Alternatively, Bob could habit stack by listening to an audiobook while doing his run.

• If Bob included a few of these steps above, he would make it much easier to follow through on his plan. ?
• I am confident that if Bob sticks to this process and makes it a part of his routine, it will become a life-changing habit to help him achieve his goal. ?
• If my friend followed this process and made running 5 km per day a part of his daily routine, he would stick to his goal. Over time, it would become second nature, a habit like brushing his teeth. He could then turn his goals into reality.

The same will happen with your financial goals.

In a nutshell, if you want to achieve your goals, you need to create YOUR SYSTEM.

Your system is a simple, easy-to-follow, step-by-step process that you regularly repeat as part of your life.  

We will shortly bring this all together and include YOUR ACTION PLAN of how you can take your DREAMS, SET YOUR GOALS, and create YOUR SYSTEM.

Extract from Dare to Dream by Clinton J Werner

1. DARE TO DREAM – YOU NEED A VISION

• “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” —Proverbs 29:18

2. YOU NEED TO SET SOME GOALS 

• What?
• Why?
• When? 
• How?

3. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS. 

• Something powerful happens when you write down your goals
• “And the Lord answered me and said, ‘Write down the vision clearly on tablets, so that even a runner can read it.’” —Habakkuk 2:2

4. DON’T GO AFTER YOUR DREAMS ALONE. 

• Surrender your dreams and goals to God. Commit your plans to God.
• “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you.” —Psalm 37:3-5
• “Commit your actions to the LORD and your plans will succeed.” —Proverbs 16:3

5. SET UP A SYSTEM

• Set up a simple strategy to turn your goals and dreams into reality.
• Build good habits.
• Make it easy.
• “Finishing is better than starting.” —Ecclesiastes 7:8

I pray that God will help you unlock your dreams and purpose and that you will have the perseverance to follow through until your dreams come to fruition.

“When dreams come true, there is life and joy.” —Proverbs 13:12)