Darren Beale

When we downshifted in July 2006 - actually it turns out that it was Cathie that really downshifted, I simply started again from scratch albeit with a much healthier balance between my business and home life and with considerably less stress - one part of our due diligence was to sit down and write up some personal and joint goals. Nearly 2 years on with a another child, a growing business and a spare hour I thought it would be a good idea to revisit them to see how I’m doing.

Before I go any further it’s worth mentioning that each of these goals were made to be S.M.A.R.T. i.e. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. I feel it’s easy to set goals such as ‘be successful’ or ‘get fit’ but if you don’t apply the S.M.A.R.T. rules to your goals then how do you know when you’ve achieved them?! It’s also worth pointing out that goals such as ‘be a better husband|father|boss’ are a given.

So, my personal life goals and how well I feel I’m doing, in no particular order, are:

Do regular exercise each week, each month, each year
Rubbish

In London I used to cycle 6 miles per day but ironically since moving out into the Worcestershire countryside I’m too scared that I’ll get flattened by all of the lorries doing 60 on the narrow A roads or tractors in the lanes, so I don’t bother. To rectify this I recently joined the local health club and I am now taking the twins swimming at least once a week. Definitely need to get this one properly back on track.

Cook at least two meals from scratch each week and constantly try new recipes
Room for improvement

A life goal surely not I hear you say. Well for me it is. I really love cooking and derive a lot of pleasure from making dishes from their base ingredients. Currently Cathie keeps us all fed for most of the week but I reckon I’m consistently cooking from scratch (opening a few tins doesn’t count) twice a week but as it’s still limited to Roasts, Pizza, Chilli and a few favourite Nigel Slater or Jamie Oliver recipes then I’m still marking this one down as having room to improve.

Spend quality time with all members of my immediate family each week
Room for improvement

Compared to our old life things are *much* better with Cathie & I being much tighter and I get to see the kids every day and I’m hanging properly with them on the weekend. However I can’t confidently say that I regularly spend as much quality time with them all as I’d like, hence the need to further improve.

Have no debt*, live within means and ensure a contingency fund equalling 6 month’s living expenses
Done

I feel the above is a minimum in order for me to sleep well at night. Moving on from there we’re then looking to the future to see how to afford to meet our goals. This book has no hidden agenda and serves as an excellent non-cheesy motivator.

*Except mortgage although I’d be trying to pay it off ASAP, making sure I could afford payments if interest rates doubled and wouldn’t use my home’s equity as an overdraft!

Own a decent family home outright before I’m 40
Jury is out

This is not a small undertaking but it is currently my main motivation. I’ve 4 years left to do this and I’ve still a fighting chance dependant upon retaining good health, the economy (particularly businesses spending money on web), luck, aggressive saving and house prices resetting back to affordable levels*. To clarify the goal is for a house big enough to fit the 5 of us comfortably until the kids are teenagers, give us a garage (see later point) and have a decent sized garden (or two).

*average house price = 3.5 x average salary.
Based on current figures (average house price £222,000 and salary £24,000) I genuinely feel that a reset of 30%-40% isn’t unlikely although the drops may be somewhat hidden by inflation.

Own and use an Aston Martin before I’m 45
Working on it

Totally selfish, crass & materialistic I know, but it’s a genuine goal nonetheless. It doesn’t need to be a new one, or a museum piece DB5 or anything, but I must own one (and be able to afford to run it).

Go racing in my own vehicle (now and again will do) before I’m 40
Doable now, just not enough time & need a garage

This isn’t the same as owning and Aston Martin and is much more modest; I simply want to push a car to its limits, legally and safely, now and again. Current plan is for it to be a < £1K banger with a few spare sets of wheels and all extra weight pulled out. I’d plonk the lot on a trailer and pull it to a local race circuit a couple of times a year where I can pay ~ £200 to hoon around the track all day. As soon as I’ve the space to store it all, this will become a reality.

Have business interests that generate an income covering my outgoings without my day-to-day input
Working on it

My retirement plan. It’d need to cover all outgoings, including discretional spend (holidays etc). In contradiction to my S.M.A.R.T. point above I’ve not set a firm date on this yet as the house is the current primary objective, that said if I don’t nail this by the time I’m 50 I’ll be disappointed.

Do the swim in a cage with Great White sharks outside thing before I die
Currently made no attempt

*Shrug* I’ve always wanted to do it, better go to Auz at some point I guess.

That’s it. On re-reading them I’m aware that there’s quite a few material & wealth related points there but then I’ve always been motivated by reward at some level.

What are yours?

Photo courtesy of Peter Kaminski