For years now, one of my goals has been to focus.

I have all kinds of quotes about the power of focus, and I know that you get a whole lot further with something if you can focus on it and make it a priority.

In fact, one of my favorite focus-related quotes is:

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.”
~Swami Vivekananda

So I was excited when I saw the link to the Prioritizer that Consciously Frugal had in her post about prioritizing goals.

“Great!” I thought, “Maybe it’ll confirm what feels like the priority to me, if I have to pick one.”

The Prioritizer turned out to be a fickle little thing, only working when I just entered a single word for each goal, but what it eventually spit out was this:

Yup, three out of my four major money-related goals (get my business very profitable, pay off our house, take some expensive trips, and have enough money for retirement) were tied for my #1 priority.

I saw that and laughed, because it’s so typical. I just can’t decide, and you know what, that’s ok. I’ll probably get to all of the goals a little slower, but I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to focus when in fact I am a hummingbird.

It’s time to just go with who I am, and maximize the advantages that brings me. There ARE some, really. Maybe I should stick to one garden as I buzz from flower to flower, but that’s enough of a focus to still make steady progress.

Focusing IS the best way to really make significant progress. When you put all your energy into one thing, you go a whole lot further (and certainly a lot whole lot faster).

But if you’re like me and you’re just not built for focusing long term on a single thing, maybe you’ll join me in implementing some things I read about in Daniel Pink’s book Drive: FedEx Days and 20-percent time.

FedEx Days are what an Australian company called Atlassian has on occasion. They’re days when their employees can work on whatever they like, but they have to produce the results the next day. (Get it? Overnight.)

20-percent time is similar. Google offers 20-percent time as one of their perks. Their jobs page explains, “We offer our engineers “20-percent time” so that they’re free to work on what they’re really passionate about. Google Suggest, AdSense for Content and Orkut are among the many products of this perk.” So basically 20% of the time, they’re working on whatever strikes their fancy.

Letting your creativity fly like that probably makes the things you’re already doing a whole lot more interesting as well. There’s something about a little inspiration that livens up your life.

Anyone up for being a hummingbird with me?

You’ve heard the platitudes before: slow and steady wins the race, patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait, etc.

But oh, sometimes it’s so hard to be patient!

Because I want what I want, and I want it right now! (Are you channeling your inner three year old along with me?)

Of course, I want stuff like a large enough net worth to reach financial independence, and maybe even a large enough net worth to be able to make some major investments. (Like buying houses for cash…)

I see things out there that I would just love to invest in or to try my hand at, and I’m just not there yet. So I stick to the plan, and just feel impatient inside instead.

I try hard not to let impatience lead to unwise action, because a lot of those tempting side streets along the road to wealth are really just dead ends. Or worse, they lead to somewhere that’s nothing like what the travel brochure advertised.

If your financial goals seem a long way off, there are things you can do to help curb impatience, unwise side trips, and backtracking.

Think back to when you originally started — maybe you knew nothing about money at all, or were making all sorts of classic mistakes — and see how far you’ve come since then. Often the progress is more substantial than you realize.

Compare what happened in the past when you got impatient or overly enthusiastic. How did things turn out then? Usually that’s when we make the most (and biggest) mistakes. A good look at those is usually enough to prevent a repeat for me.

What types of things have worked for you when it comes to gaining the patience to take the steady (and ultimately rewarding) route?

Where do you want to be five years from now? Can you describe what you’d like your life to look like then? More importantly, do you have a plan in place that will get you there? As the saying goes, a goal without a plan is just a wish.

A good plan includes both the end goal (your clear vision), midterm goals (milestones), and the most immediate steps (what you need to do right now before you can do the next step).

Problems with this are usually twofold: you may not know what you want the future to look like, or if you do know it seems so different from the present that you have no idea how to get there.

If you don’t know what you want the future to look like, it can be helpful to start by thinking about what you like and dislike about the present, and what kind of things you enjoy in general. Once you have an idea of part or all of where you want to be, working backwards can help you get there.

For example, if you want to be a homeowner five years from now but aren’t sure how to go about it, you could start by thinking about the typical home-buying process.

Many people use a Realtor when they’re ready to buy a home, so probably you’d want to contact one of them. What’s the first thing a Realtor is likely to ask you? They’ll probably ask what price your price range is, and what features you want the house to have. So, what features do you want the house to have? And how much do houses like that typically cost? Do you have that much money? If not, will you qualify for a loan? What will you need to qualify for a loan? Probably a down payment and a good credit history. Things go on from there.

Write all your questions and answers down, and at the end you’ll have a path to your goal. It’ll just be written backwards.

If at any point during your examination of the process, you come across questions that you don’t know the answers to, those become your items to do “right now”. So you’ll start out with “own a house” as the clear vision, and you might have “call a Realtor” as your immediate action. If you find out that you need a $20,000 down payment, that could become a milestone and you could use the same type of process to figure out how you could save up the down payment.

Reaching goals is mostly a matter of dedication and taking one step after another. Figuring out which steps to take helps you turn your wish into a goal.