I will

Goals are funny things, figments of the imagination existing only until achieved or abandoned. An eclectic collection of rose coloured hopes and unfulfilled dreams of things once desired.

A goal attained is worthy of a victory dance, celebrating the small wins in life is important. Yet almost immediately I find myself asking “what’s next?“.

Travel taught me that the journey is often far more interesting than the final destination. I have found the same to be true of goals, considering how they evolve over time is more instructive than simply listing them out.

Legend:
Achieved, and remains so.
Achieved, but no longer so, will do it again.
Work in progress.
Someday, but not today.
Achieved, but wouldn't do it again.
Abandoned.

Happy & Content

• Learn to juggle.
• Buy a television. Get cable tv for sports.
• See the Canberra Raiders win the premiership. Sigh, maybe next year!
• Receive a hug from Julia Roberts.
• Be interesting enough to get a girlfriend. Have sex. Get married. Don’t fuck it up!
• Buy beer. Buy beer legally. Go out often. Go out at all. Quit drinking. Enjoy staying in.
• Learn to drive. Buy a car. Race an open wheeler racing car. London traffic and parking does not lead to happiness.
• Move out. Live in a house I own. Design and build a dream house.
• Get a dog.
• Grow my hair long. Grow a Santa Claus beard.
• Have kids. Survive the early years with kids. Enjoy kids. Become friends with kids as adults.
• Build a self-service on-demand kids television system. Pre-Netflix!
• Get a fridge with an ice and water dispenser on the door.
• Learn to cook dim sum.
• Wake up without the alarm.
• Live at the beach.
• Get a cat.
• Work as an extra in a Star Wars movie.
• Make an effort. It has been said that I am grumpy and anti-social, mainly because I don’t much like people in general. 
• Be happy and content. Feel happy often, and content consistently.

Health & Fitness

• Learn to ride a bike. Buy a bike. Learn to ride motor bike. Only crazy people with a death wish ride bikes in London!
• Run a sub 20 minute 5km. Run a half marathon. Finish a full marathon. Get back into running.
• Get six pack abs.
• Comfortably fit into a pair of jeans I wore in university.
• Captain the Australian cricket team. Yes, I recognise that the last time I played competitive cricket was in the under 11s… details!
• Learn to swim. Get back into swimming.
• Stop biting my finger nails.
• Walk at least 4,000,000 steps each year.
• Consume less than 1,900 calories per day on average over a week.
• Take up rowing.
• Exercise daily.

Travel

• Go overseas at least once. Work overseas. Live overseas. Visit at least one new country each year.
• Go backpacking.
• Live in London. Live in Hong Kong, Melbourne, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, and Vancouver for 3 months.
• Take a city break every 6 weeks. Take regular vacations to kid friendly places during school holidays. Slow travel.
• Resume bush walking.
• Travel carefree like a backpacker, but comfortably as I have grown accustomed.

Intellectual Stimulation

• Buy a computer.
• Teach myself to program computers. Work as a computer programmer. Move away from the tools. Focus on customer facing skills that won’t be outsourced or off-shored.
• Finish school. Get into university. Graduate. Graduate again. And again. And yet again.
• Become a stock broker.
• Qualify as an accountant. Become an accountant.
• Qualify as a financial planner. Become a financial planner.
• Be useful, able to make the problems of paying clients go away.
• Rediscover the joy of programming computers, just for fun.
• Study just for fun.
• Start a blog. Maintain a blog.
• Write a book.
• Produce a useful personal finance tool that benefits the community.

Wealth

• Earn an income independent of my parents. Be in a financial position to support my parents.

• Get a job. Get a second job. Get a third job. Semi-retire. Retire.

• Make first million by age 30. Make second million by age 40. Have enough money to not worry about money.
• Learn about stock market. Learn to read annual reports. Invest in shares. Invest in low cost index funds (mostly).
• Start a business. Run a profitable business. Own (not run) a sustainably profitable business.
• Invest in real estate. Invest in well located, sustainably self funding real estate.
• Separate investing time from generating income.
• Earn sustainable net passive income. £500 per week. £1,000 per week. £2,000 per week. £5,000 per week.
• Achieve financial independence.