How to Set Goals: My goals for 2018 ($1 Million in income)

So guys, if you want to achieve something, it's not just gonna randomly happen to you. It's not just gonna fall from the sky onto your lap and like, "Oh, whoops, there it is!" That's not gonna happen. In order to get something, you really have to want whatever it is that you want to get. You really have to want it. Beyond just wanting it, you actually need to have a purpose behind wanting that. Because if you want some random thing, if you don't even have a purpose behind wanting that and a reason to want that, oftentimes it's so easy just to let go and push it off, and then it never actually happens.

So this is why it's so important that, especially when you want to achieve something, you set a goal for yourself. Something you can measure. A goal is really just like a compass that points you in the right direction. It's like trying to go north, and all you're doing instead is just picking a random direction where you end up going aimlessly in circles and kind of really just going wherever the tide brings you. A goal is really going to be something that grounds you and gives you purpose and direction in where you're going to be going.

Then when you decide to make a goal and you really internalize it and you put it out there and you write it down, you subconsciously hold yourself responsible to actually making that a reality, especially if you're gonna make it public. If you don't hit it, you're gonna look back and be like, "Wow, I just made a big idiot of myself." So you're not gonna let that happen. But also, by realizing what your goals are, and especially writing them down or speaking them out loud, it really puts things in motion to start doing things to make that goal a reality.

So my big realization for 2017 is that I've continually been selling myself short every single year and underestimating what I can accomplish. This has been a big one for me to realize. The thing when I set my goals is that I usually set them at a point where I felt they're realistic, and then I felt like I could actually hit these goals. So, I never set goals that I felt were like crazy unrealistic or something that I felt like I really can't do. These are goals where I felt like, you know, I can push myself a little bit to make this happen, but it's not something that is crazy unrealistic at the same time.

For instance, one year I think it was to earn $300,000 in commission, and I did that. Another year I think it was to make, you know, $5,000 in passive income, and I did that. Yeah, my YouTube goal for this year was a thousand subscribers, and we underestimated that. I think also, when it came time for me to make these goals, I didn't want to set a goal that I wasn't going to hit because I felt like that would just be a disappointment to myself. So instead, I set pretty realistic goals, and by doing that, I think I've held myself back from doing a lot more and really pushing myself because I didn't even think I could achieve something much more than that.

I didn't want to let myself down, but looking back, I realized that I was actually just limiting myself to what I could accomplish by setting these goals that I felt were pretty realistic. Even though I thought I got rid of all my limiting beliefs of what I thought I could accomplish on my own and what I think is possible, what I realized is that I still very much have a lot of limiting beliefs about what I think I could achieve. By doing so, I was setting these goals that I realized I could hit, but it's still within the safe zone of what's kind of reasonable and what I'm used to. Deep down, I didn't think I could do better than just a certain amount.

Also deep down, I didn't want to set a goal that I would look back on at the end of the year and realize, "You know what? I messed up. I didn't hit these things." So I didn't want that either. This year, I'm going to be doing something different. I'm gonna be going much higher with my goals, and I highly recommend you guys do the exact same thing. The thing is, once you've created a goal and start focusing on it, you could then work to make that goal a reality. This is no matter what you want.

Like, when I started focusing on real estate sales and hitting certain commission numbers, it's very easy to then say, "I just have to sell X amount of real estate, and this is how much I make." When it comes time to making passive income, it was very easy for me to say, "I just need to have X amount invested, and with that, I can make X amount of dollars." Same thing with growing a YouTube channel. After a certain point, I started realizing how important SEO was and doing videos that I felt like could rank on search results. Same thing, like with working out, when I wanted to get in better shape, I realized that once I started tracking my workouts, it made a huge improvement.

So whether it's a dollar amount or any goal you might have, it's so important to write it down, make it unrealistic, and make it something that you really have to work towards. Then start tracking those numbers and doing things to make that a reality. Also, having a reason you want that really helps solidify its purpose. Without any sort of purpose or reason or emotion behind having a goal, the goal itself is rather useless. The goal itself then just becomes this arbitrary number that really doesn't mean anything to you, and you're gonna be less likely to be motivated to actually make that a reality and hit that goal.

So it's so important that with anything you do, you realize deep down, "Why do I actually want it?" It doesn't matter what it is. You can say a hundred million dollars; you can say a billion dollars; a trillion dollars. But figure out why you actually want that and what that's going to do for you. Once you have a purpose behind it, it's gonna be so much of a stronger goal than just being like, "I want 20 million just because I want 20 million." Don't do that! Figure out why you want 20 million, what that's going to bring you, the joys that's gonna bring you, what you can do with it, and really have a purpose behind it. This is gonna make it much more real than just writing down, "I want X amount of dollars," or "I want this Lamborghini." Figure out why you want it first.

So these are my goals for 2018. Now, I'm setting them way higher than I would normally because, like I said, I've always underestimated my goals year after year after year. This is my first year of really making it public and shooting for the moon. I'm gonna see if this works. Because, like I said, every year for the last ten years, I've hit it. This is the first year I'm really going somewhat crazy, I feel like, with my numbers. But let's see if this works. It's gonna be so interesting to look back and I'll be like, "Wow guys, that actually worked!" Or, you know, if I don't hit it, you know, actually let's be positive. Let's say I'm gonna hit these goals!

So this is what they are. Let's start with the really materialistic things. The first thing is that I want to make in 2018, 1 million dollars. Now, I never had a seven-figure year before in real estate, and this year I would like to be the first year that I have a million dollars in gross income for 2018. I'd also like to increase my passive rental income to $10,000 per month by the end of December of 2018. Right now, I'm about four thousand dollars a month away from hitting that goal. In order to do this, if I have a million-dollar year in 2018, I can use all of that money to invest, then get me an extra four thousand dollars a month in passive rental income, which again isn't too out of the ordinary. But that I feel like is a pretty realistic scenario if I make the million dollars in 2018.

In order to do that, and in order to get an extra four thousand dollars per month in passive rental income, I'm gonna have to buy and renovate another property for 2018, which also means more remodeling & renovation videos coming your way. So let's make that a reality! Next, in terms of my YouTube goals, I would like to see this channel at 500,000 subscribers by the end of 2018. I'd also like to see this channel average 2 million views a month, which is basically, we just triple what I'm getting right now. There we go!

Now, with 2 million views a month, I'd also like to see over a hundred thousand dollars in YouTube ad revenue in 2018. So if we can make that happen, in addition to the million dollars earned, I'd be in a great position to then continue to buy more real estate and make more renovation videos you guys seem to love so much. Then, I'd also like to upgrade the Lotus in 2018 with either a Lamborghini Superleggera or maybe a manual Ferrari F430. So one of those I think would be a cool choice. You know, I'm not 100% sure on what car I want to get, but I think 2018 is the year that, you know, I upgrade the Lotus. Or maybe I keep the Lotus and I buy something else. So we'll see on that, but I've always wanted one of those. A Lamborghini is one of those cars that I've been wanting since I was like 15 years old. So I think it'd be cool to actually make that a reality.

Now, in terms of not-so-materialistic goals that are all about money and cars, I would like to set up a reef tank this year. You know, reef aquariums have been a huge hobby of mine, a huge passion of mine since I was a kid, and it's been a while since I had a reef tank setup. I've said this every year that would be like, "I'm gonna set up my reef tank finally." And you know, I've been saying that for a while now, but this year I really want to get another aquarium set up. It'll likely be a 50 to 80 gallon reef tank, and I think would be cool. Maybe I make a second channel, like a vlog channel or something like that, and upload like reef aquarium videos and other little hobbies and stuff like that.

Speaking of which, of hobbies, I'd also like to have my drums set up again. It's been a few years since I played the drums, and I really haven't had any space to play it because the neighbors hate the drums, and it's really loud. So I would like to get that set up, and maybe make like a soundproof room or something like that that I can play the drums in. So those two would mean a lot to me to do in 2018. I would also like to set up a podcast in 2018. You guys have been asking a lot for a podcast. I'd like to get that set up in January along with a Facebook group, so that's gonna happen. Not really a resolution because I know that's for sure gonna happen, but stay tuned for that. That'll happen in January.

Then, I'd also like to take on some more speaking engagements. I would love to do ten speaking engagements in 2018. This is something that I've really been working a lot on in terms of my speaking skills. It's one thing to talk to a camera with nobody around, and I can take as many times as I want to. But actually speaking live in front of a group of people is an entirely different story. So I'd like to get better at that, and I'd like to do ten speaking engagements in 2018.

I'd also like to say yes to things more often. It's really easy for me to, like, naturally just be a homebody and, you know, be pretty introverted and not want to go out very often and kind of stick to myself. So that's one of these things that I continually have to push myself to go out there and meet new people and be social and all that sort of stuff. It doesn't really come naturally to me, so this is one of those things that I feel like in 2018, I really want to say yes to things more. When people invite me out, I'm just gonna say yes instead of being like, "Oh, I don't know. I'd rather stay home tonight." Every time I've said yes, I end up, you know, never regretting it.

So that's gonna be one of those things that I want to say yes way more often than what I did in 2017. Then I also just have a few other personal ones that I'm keeping to myself. I just don't want to make them public for, you know, all of the YouTube to go and listen to. But just trust me, they're, you know, personal goals that I'll keep track of. I'm writing them down and I'll report back at the end of next year, and we'll see if I hit those or not.

So besides that, some of these goals that I've set have seemed pretty lofty. A lot of this from me and just putting it out there and putting something on YouTube and making these lofty goals is really just a test to see if this actually works. This is something, like I said, I continually sold myself short every single year and underestimated what I could accomplish. So this is one of those tests for me just to see what happens if I make some, you know, crazy goals to look back at this a year from now and see how I actually came in comparison to what I wanted to achieve.

You know, I'm pretty optimistic. I think I'll be able to hit these, but at the same time, for me right now, they all seem like, you know, a million dollars in a year; you know, I'd never done that before. So that's definitely something that I would like to do. That one would blow everything else out of the water if I could do a million dollars in a year. You know, from me making a goal, you know, then what does that say for everybody else? You guys need to make these goals and put them out there.

Okay, here's a challenge, spur-of-the-moment challenge that I just came up with. How about this? Make a video about what your goals are and set them way higher than what you would normally set them at. Title it, "2018 Graham Stephan Goals Challenge." Now, what I'm gonna do, if you upload these to YouTube, I will search for this, and I'm gonna be subscribing to everybody who titles their video that and actually posts their video. So I'll go through and I'll search for this, I'll find you guys, and I'll just count me as like one of your subscribers. I'll subscribe to all of you guys. I don't care! But I want to see the progression that you guys make throughout the year.

I would like to see if you can just post regular videos every now and then with how you're doing or with your progress or anything, and I'll watch them and I'll support you guys. So if this is something you want to do, like I said, upload a video titled, "2018 Graham Stephan Goals Challenge." I will search for that, I will watch the videos, I will comment on the videos, I will subscribe to you guys. But the one condition is that you actually have to then, you know, post update videos along the way just so you don’t make a random video and then never post again. Don’t do that!

So if you want to do this, if you want to be a part of it, feel free to make that video, title it that, and then I will search for him. Hopefully, that should just encourage other people to start posting on YouTube, to get used to that and to put their goals out there, make them public. That way, they're a little bit more responsible and held accountable for making those goals a reality.

So with that said, thank you so much for watching this and have an amazing new year! Have an awesome 2018! 2017 has been pretty epic so far; I've loved it every step of the way. It's been probably one of the best years yet, and 2018 I feel like it's gonna be even better than this. So as always, thank you so much for watching! If you haven't subscribed already, make sure to smash that subscribe button! Smash the notification bell! Smash the like button! And also feel free to add me on Snapchat and Instagram; I post pretty much daily. So if you want to be a part of it there, feel free to add me there. Thank you again for watching and until next time!