Summary: How do you make important decisions? Are you very deliberate about your decisions or are you quick to make decisions without thinking things through? We show you how to shift from making decisions based on impulse and emotion (Fire, Ready, Aim) to making decisions based on a vision and goals for your life that YOU create (Ready, Aim, Fire).
When I worked at McKinsey & Company, a large multi-national organization asked us to help them create a vision for their company. Based on this overarching vision, we then helped the organization create both short and long-term goals. From there each major division of the company was tasked with formulating their own path forward. Because the vision and goals of the company were so clearly defined, these fell easily into place.
Another easy way to visualize this is the Ready, Aim, Fire Approach that sharpshooters might use to prepare for the upcoming Olympics. First they have a vision of themselves on a podium with a gold medal. They then spend years training and preparing – they get “ready.” Then they establish a clear goal of scoring higher than the current Olympic world record – they “aim.” Only after getting “ready” and “aiming,” do they actually finally “fire.”
Contrast this to the approach that many of us (including myself on many occasions in the past), take in life. Many of us don’t have clear visions for where we want to end up. Many of us have read Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits but very few of us have put the mantra “start with the end in mind” into practice.
We go to work everyday, not thinking about the bigger picture of why we work where we work and where it is taking us.
We often accept medical directorships or committee positions because getting recognized makes us feel good, rather than having a clear objective for what we want to accomplish or thinking through any potential negative impacts (for example, time away from our families).
In day-to-day life, we make major purchases without regard to the end goal. Will a new car or bigger house really help you achieve your life vision?
This is what we call the Fire, Ready, Aim Approach to life: you make an impulsive or emotional decision without taking the big picture into consideration.
In contrast, the Ready, Aim, Fire Approach is a mindset shift for many of us.
First you start with a vision for what you want in life.
For example, our vision is of family and friends getting together in a villa in Italy, all sitting and eating together at a large table, laughing and enjoying each other’s company.
From there you establish the goals that will help you get there.
For us, one major goal is to secure even greater levels of freedom in the future by achieving a defined dollar amount of passive income. This is a number that we defined years ago as the amount that would allow us to fulfill our vision.
Once your vision and goals are set, everything else you need to do should fall into place and become clear.
Now, every time you make a major purchase or life decision, you assess whether or not it helps you toward your goal.
Will purchasing the brand new electric car we’ve always wanted get us closer to financial freedom? No.
Does taking a leadership position at the hospital allow me to spend more time with my family? No.
Does living in one side of a duplex in a modest income area and renting out the other side (Note: this is called house hacking and yes, we’ve done this) help us reach our financial goals more quickly? Yes.
Once you’ve established your vision and goals, the one additional thing you need is to have somebody hold you accountable for reaching them.
If you are single, this could be a close friend or a life coach. If you are married, your spouse would naturally be the one to hold you accountable.
So are you ready to get started?
Determine your personal vision and create the short and long-term goals that will get you there.
When making any major decision, ask yourself: “Am I using the fire, ready, aim approach or the ready, aim, fire approach?”
Join our Facebook community and share your vision/goals with the group.
