Second Half of 2022…Are You on Track?
Tim Ulbrich, PharmD, flies solo to talk through a five-step system you can implement to set and achieve your goals to finish 2022 strong.
Episode Summary
In this week’s episode of the Your Financial Pharmacist podcast, YFP Co-founder & CEO, Tim Ulbrich, PharmD, takes a moment to reflect on the first half of 2022, revisit goals from the start of the year, and prepare for the second half of 2022. He talks through a five-step system you can implement to set and achieve your goals and finish the year strong. As Tim works through this goal-setting exercise, listeners can follow along with a template provided in the show notes, completing it while listening to the episode. Tim reminds listeners to build S.M.A.R.T. goals during this exercise for health and physical fitness, social and community, spiritual and mental health, financial, intellectual, business or career, and relationships and family aspects of their lives.
Tim’s five-step system includes the following key components to successfully setting and reaching your goals for 2022 and years to come:
- Step 1: The 10-Year Heck Yeah
- Step 2: The ‘So What?!’ Check
- Step 3: The 1- Year Mile Markers
- Step 4: Accountability
- Step 5: Implementation
Tim dives into each step, explaining the value each provides in meeting your goals and how to move through them with intention. In the implementation step, Tim shares a powerful visualization practice for motivation.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode
- YFP Planning: Financial Planning for Pharmacists
- Schedule a free Discovery Call with YFP Planning
- Download the YFP Goal Setting Template
- As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
- Your Financial Pharmacist Disclaimer and Disclosures
Episode Transcript
[INTRO]
[00:00:00] TU: Hey, everybody. Tim Ulbrich here, and thank you for listening to the YFP Podcast, where each week we strive to inspire and encourage you on your path towards achieving financial freedom.
On this week’s episode, I’m flying solo to talk through a system, five steps that you can implement to set and achieve your goals and finish 2022 strong. Before we jump into the show, I recognize that many listeners may not be aware of what the team at YFP Planning does in working one-on-one with more than 260 households in 40-plus states. YFP Planning offers fee-only high-touch financial planning that is customized for the pharmacy professional. If you’re interested in learning more about how working one-on-one with a certified financial planner may help you achieve your financial goals, you can book a free discovery call at yfpplanning.com. Whether or not YFP Planning’s financial planning services are a good fit for you, know that we appreciate your support of this podcast and our mission to help pharmacists achieve financial freedom. All right, let’s jump into this week’s show.
[EPISODE]
[00:01:04] TU: So we’re officially past the halfway point of the year. We’re in the month of August. We’ve got five months left in 2022. By now, any goals that we’ve set at the start of the year may be a distant memory. I suspect we can all relate to times when we fell victim to the cycle where we set big goals. It’s the New Year. We’re excited. We have that initial momentum. We then fall into old habits. And soon enough, we give up on those goals, and perhaps we picked that cycle up again the next year.
The mid-year point or just past that is a great opportunity to dust off the goals, to do some self-reflection and determine the path forward to finish 2022 strong. Well, it’s valuable to reflect and identify opportunities for improvement. It’s not valuable to dwell in shame and judgment of yourself. Rather, it’s a chance that we can pivot. We can take responsibility for the actions that we’re going to take going forward.
So if you’re looking for a jolt of motivation for the second half of 2022, let me encourage you to set aside a few hours to work through an activity that I’m going to talk through on this show. I promise, the return on investment of your time will be worth it. I’m going to walk through a five-step process to set and achieve your goals, and this is going to correspond with a template that you can use to follow along and to fill in for your own goals. You can download that template by going to yourfinancialpharmacist.com/goals. Again, yourfinancialpharmacist.com/goals.
We’re going to talk about several different areas of our personal and professional lives. Yes, this is a financial podcast. Of course, we’ll include financial goals in there. But we’re also going to talk about other domains that I suspect are very important to all of us, whether it be health and physical fitness, social and community, spiritual and mental health, intellectual, and so on. So let’s walk through these five steps. Again, you can download that template, yourfinancialpharmacist.com/goals, and you can follow along and fill in the information yourself.
All right, step number one is the 10-year heck yeah, the 10-year heck yeah. So we need to start with this 10-year vision, and we need to dream a bit because short term goals without an inspiring vision will quickly fall off as a casualty of the busyness of life and our tendency to be led by our motivations, right? I mentioned the cycle before, where we set big goals, we get some initial momentum, we fall into old habits, and then we give up on those goals. So we need a bold vision that’s going to transcend us to be able to continue on, even when our motivations may not be where you want them.
I love this passage written by James Allen from the book As a Man Thinketh when he says, “Dream lofty dreams. And as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be. Your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” Now, I’ve done this activity enough times with former students, residents, and colleagues to know that some prompts here are helpful. I get it, right? 10 years down the road is hard to imagine when the here and now can be overwhelming enough.
So use the following statement to get you started with crafting this 10-year vision for each of the domains that you’re going to see listed in that table, right? So financial, social and community, health and physical fitness. We’re going to set a 10-year heck yeah for each one of those domains. So here is the prompt. If I fast forward to August 2032, 10 years from now, what things need to happen with my – Insert the domain, right? So it could be with my health and physical fitness, with my financial situation. What things need to happen that would leave me feeling heck yeah?
So if I fast forward 10 years to August 2032, what things need to happen that will leave me feeling heck yeah? We want to think about that in each of those domains; health and physical fitness, social and community, spiritual and mental health, financial, intellectual, business, career, and relationships and family. For example, when I think about 10 years from now in the health and physical fitness category, one that’s really important to me, I close my eyes, and I visualize myself being 10 years older. That puts me at 48. It sounds really old, saying that out loud, 10 years older.
At the age of 48, I’ve got my four boys who are now 21, 19, 17, and 14. Now, when I think about what would make up a 10-year heck yeah in this domain of health and physical fitness, I envision that I’m in better shape than I am now, and I’m competing in various events that validate I can get stronger and healthier as I get older. More specifically, I’m screaming heck yeah, if the following are true 10 years from today, August 2032. I’ve completed an Ironman triathlon. It’s one of my big goals. I’ve hired a personal trainer and nutrition coach, and I’ve created a schedule that allows me to spend a couple of hours most days of the week shopping for and cooking fresh meals, something I love to do and would like to do more often if time weren’t a thing.
Those three things, if I visualize 10 years from now, August 2032, I’ve completed an Ironman race. I’ve hired a personal trainer and nutrition coach. I’ve created a schedule that has a couple hours a week that allows me to be able to shop and cook for meals each day. If those things are happening, that’s a heck yeah. That gets me excited.
Okay, it’s your turn. So visualize 10 years from now in each of the domains that I mentioned. Again, you can download the worksheet to continue to follow along. As you begin to visualize, I want you to take a walk. Reflect on these. Dream a little bit. Don’t hold back and do not rush this step because this is going to serve as the motivation and energy that’s going to drive your one-year goals that we’ll talk about here in a moment, and it’s also going to drive the daily actions that we take. So that’s step number one, is we’re looking at the 10-year heck yeah. That’s our motivation. That’s our compass.
Step number two is the so what check, the so what check. Now that we’ve defined our 10-year heck yeah, it’s time to check to see if that 10-year vision is inspiring enough. So for each of the domains, I want you to fill in what is the next column of the worksheet, which is your so what. So this should answer the question why is achieving this 10-year vision so important. Why is achieving this 10-year vision so important, right? This is the so what.
Let your responses to this so what sink in for a while. Because if you revisit them, and they don’t make you feel like you could run through a brick wall, it’s time to challenge whether or not you’re thinking big enough for 10 years into the future. Now, if I go back to my previous example related to my health and physical fitness, when I say out loud and visualize that I’ve completed an Ironman, I have a personal trainer and a nutrition coach, and I have a schedule that allows me to spend time each week preparing meals, it brings a smile to my face.
When I think about my so what, my so what is that I’m able to keep up with my four boys. My so what is it I’m in better shape heading into my 50s than I was heading into my 30s. My so what is that I’m more productive than ever in my work, in the business with YFP, in expanding our mission to help pharmacists achieve financial freedom because I know how connected my physical health and fitness is to my ability and capacity to work and to work well.
Now, one last thing here is don’t hold the 10-year vision and the so what responses to yourself. Talking these out loud with a significant other, a friend, or colleague helps bring a different perspective. There’s something valuable that happens when we articulate our dreams. It either further confirms our energy and enthusiasm, or it exposes some BS or some clarification needed, such that we have to go back to the drawing board and refine them further. So that’s step number two, the so what check on our 10-year vision.
Step number three is the one-year mile markers, the one-year mile markers. So once we set that 10-year vision and confirm that we’re thinking big enough with the so what, it’s time to get some traction with specific mile markers that we can measure and that we’re confident, if achieved, will put us a step closer to achieving our 10-ear goal. Now, here we are, a little bit less than six months out from the start of 2023. So if you’d like to operate on a clean calendar year, think of these as the five-month mile markers or the half-year mile markers. You can then redo this activity heading into 2023.
Now, if you’re feeling overwhelmed at this point, keep it simple with one goal, one mile marker in each domain. But if you’re feeling inspired, consider adding a couple of extra but be careful. I would recommend no more than three in each area. Let’s not forget to write these goals in a smart format, right? This has been drilled into all of us at one or more times throughout our training in our career.
A quick refresher on smart goals, they should be specific, they should be measurable, they should be achievable, they should be relevant, and they should be time-bound. So let me give you a nerdy financial example of a smart goal because that’s what we do best at YFP. So instead of saying something like, “I want to have more saved for unexpected health care expenses,” I could instead reframe this as, “By December 31st, 2022, Jess and I will max out our HSA by contributing $7,300.”
Or better yet, we can add a why to this goal. So it may say, “By December 31st, 2022, Jess and I will max out our HSA by contributing $7,300 so that we can have peace of mind that unexpected health care expenses will not cause unnecessary stress and eat into our emergency fund or other savings.” Now, this goal was top of mind because of our four boys, their physical nature, energy and love for wrestling one another. That’s a recipe for visits to the ER. Thankfully, knock on wood, we haven’t had many yet. But we’re expecting those expenses will come at some point.
Now, going back to my previous example on health and physical fitness, the following are the one-year mile markers, the one-year targets that will put me on the path towards the 10-year vision. By July 31st, 2022, I’m going to complete an Olympic triathlon, which is about a quarter of an Ironman. By December 31st, I’m going to complete 260 cardio sessions that are divided between biking, swimming, and running. So it’s an average of five per week. And by December 31st, I’m going to evaluate three nutritionist options for consideration in 2023. This would include price offering, scope of work, and so on. That’s step number three. We have to be able to bring that 10-year vision and the so what into a one-year vision. So we need one-year mile markers, and that’s what we’re doing in step number three.
Step number four is accountability. So we’ve inspired a 10-year vision, we’ve challenged that vision with the so what in step number two, and we now have one-year mile markers to ensure that we stay on track. So let’s keep rolling. We all know from personal experience that goals plus accountability equals an increased likelihood of success. Goals plus accountability equals an increased likelihood of success. We see this every day at YFP, specifically with one-on-one planning that’s offered by the incredible team at YFP Planning. So folks come to us with big visions, big personal financial goals, and we’re able to provide some of the guidance, some of the expertise, and the accountability to help individuals achieve those goals through one-on-one comprehensive financial planning.
As we talk about accountability here in step number four, we need to ensure that we don’t internalize our goals, and that we have a system and a plan for accountability. Now, this is not simply a person or a group of people. It needs to be more intentional than that. For example, my wife, Jess, is a huge accountability partner for me. But if I simply list here in step number four that Jess is my accountability plan, that ain’t going to cut it, right? I need to get more specific.
For example, once a month, I’m going to review my goals and progress for Jess. This keeps me accountable, knowing that I’m going to update her each month. It also challenges her in her own journey and ensures we can get on the same page with knocking down any barriers to success, whether that be scheduling conflicts, watching the boys, and so on. Now, I would challenge you to find an accountability partner that is at least, if not more, on fire than you are about living an intentional life, someone that will challenge and push you along their own journey. So that’s step number four is accountability.
Then step number five, it’s time to implement. It’s time to make these one-year mile markers a reality. Remember, that’s our focus because we’ve written them in a way that if achieved will put us on the path towards our 10-year heck yeah. So after you populate that table, and again as a reminder, you can do that by going to yourfinancialpharmacist.com/goals to get a copy of that table. After you populate the table, print it off and put it somewhere visible. Build this into a daily or weekly rhythm that allows you to see these on a regular basis and be reminded of why you are trying to strive towards these goals. We need to ensure that the hard work that we just did doesn’t end up on a piece of paper that gets put away somewhere in a drawer.
If we can develop a system to remind ourselves regularly of our goals, they start to become ever present in our thoughts. When this happens, this is your signal that you’re on the right path. Because we want these to become so second nature that we begin to visualize and see them as a reality, not as a hope, a wish, or a dream. Now, there are many ways to remind yourself of these goals, but let me suggest one that I have found to be most impactful, and that is to incorporate the review of these goals into a morning routine in a way that they can be visualized.
Not too long ago, I established this a part of my morning routine where I record and listen to these words each morning, along with some other affirmations and truths that I have to be reminded of every day because there’s something powerful about hearing your own voice, encouraging yourself to strive towards the things that you’ve determined to be most important. It provides incredible energy and fuel to the day.
For example, back to the example around health and physical fitness, I would say something along the lines of, “Tim, visualize the following. At the end of July of 2020, you’re in the best shape of your life because you’ve just crossed the finish line of an Olympic triathlon, arms high in the air. The boys are beaming with joy seeing their dad complete this race and want to do one themselves.”
Now, just hearing those words make me smile, and I can’t wait to cross that finish line two weeks coming up this Sunday at the time of recording this, when I complete my first triathlon because it started as a dream in the fall 2022 and is nearing reality, all from setting a vision with a strong so what that led to the daily habits over the past six months that have prepared me for this race.
My challenge for you is it’s time to make the most of tomorrow. Start by designing what you want tomorrow to look like, rather than reacting to what the day brings. I hope you found this episode helpful. I’m looking forward to a great second half of 2022. Again, I would encourage you to download that template, yourfinancialpharmacist.com/goals. As always, thank you so much for listening and have a great rest of your week.
[OUTRO]
[00:18:01] TU: As we conclude this week’s podcast, an important reminder that the content on this show is provided to you for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for investment or any other advice. Information in the podcast and corresponding materials should not be construed as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any investment or related financial products. We urge listeners to consult with a financial advisor with respect to any investment.
Furthermore, the information contained in our archived newsletters, blog posts, and podcasts is not updated and may not be accurate at the time you listen to it on the podcast. Opinions and analyses expressed herein are solely those of Your Financial Pharmacist, unless otherwise noted, and constitute judgments as of the dates published. Such information may contain forward-looking statements that are not intended to be guarantees of future events. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. For more information, please visit yourfinancialpharmacist.com/disclaimer.
Thank you, again, for your support of the Your Financial Pharmacist Podcast. Have a great rest of your week.
[END]
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