Naming the goals

Most people carry four or five goals around in their head at once, which is why none of them gets a monthly number. This lesson gets them all onto one page and into three groups.

Write everything down

Take ten minutes and list every goal, large or small, that you would like to reach in the next five years. A course, a move, a car, a wedding, a long trip, replacing the kitchen, a sabbatical, a deposit. Include the ones that feel unrealistic; they belong on the page even if they end up in the "later" group.

Next to each one write a rough amount. A guess is fine. Lesson 3 replaces the guesses with real totals.

Three groups

Within the next year. One to three years. Later than that. Sort the list. Be honest about the first group: it should contain only things you could reach within twelve months if you started setting aside now.

Most lists end up with one or two goals in the first group, two or three in the second, and the rest in the third. That is normal and it is useful: the first group is where the monthly numbers go first.

Pick one from each group

Circle one goal in each group: the one that matters most, not the cheapest. These three are what lessons 2 to 4 work with. The others stay on the page; nothing is lost by waiting its turn.

Lesson 2 gives each of the three a separate pot and explains why one shared pot slows every goal in it.