Is Your Fear of Failure Holding You Back?

Most people refuse to set goals. I don’t know why. Maybe it seems daunting. Or threatening. Or just silly. But it works.

If you set wealth goals, you will increase your wealth. But don’t just pull a number out of the air. Be realistic.

Start with your income. If you are earning $50,000 a year now, make a decision to earn $60,000 or $70,000 next year. I don’t believe in over-reaching. Especially in the beginning. You have to learn how to reach modest goals first. Once you have done that, you can crank up your internal moneymaking machine.

But income is only part of the program. You have to set net-worth goals too.

Figure out what your net worth is today. (Add up all your assets, and then subtract everything you owe.) Then make a commitment to increase your net worth by a modest percentage every week. To do that, you will need to set two additional goals. You will have to spend less than you are spending now and save more.

Becoming wealthy is not much different from becoming physically fit. You start from where you are and train your muscles (in this case, the wealth-building muscles in your brain) to perform better as time goes on.

[Ed. Note: Mark Morgan Ford was the creator of Early To Rise. In 2011, Mark retired from ETR and now writes the Palm Beach Letter. His advice, in our opinion, continues to get better and better with every essay, particularly in the controversial ones we have shared today. We encourage you to read everything you can that has been written by Mark.]