Accomplishing Your Dreams & Taking The First Step

Most dreams don’t fall apart because they’re too big, they just never get started. In this episode, Austin, Josh, and Jess talk about why so many goals stay stuck in the “someday I'll do it” category and what it actually looks like to take that first step. Jess shares a story about a weeping willow tree and how it quickly turned into a bigger conversation about taking action and making progress. Tune in!

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You're listening to The Wealth Mindset Show, where Hixon Zuercher Capital Management's team of finance professionals, portfolio managers, and a life coach come together to tackle complex topics in finance and retirement planning so you don't have to. From investment strategies and wealth management to tax planning, retirement income, and aligning your money with your values and purpose, The Wealth Mindset Show offers the tools to thrive.

Austin Wilson:

All right. Hey, hey, welcome back to The Wealth Mindset Show where the Hixon Zuercher team helps you manage wealth, navigate retirement and make smart decisions for a secure, meaningful future.

I'm Austin Wilson, Chief Investment Officer at Hixon Zuercher Capital Management.

Josh Robb:

I'm Josh Robb, Director of Wealth Management at Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. Joining us today is Jessica Hinks, a financial advisor at our firm and the author of a blog that we're going to talk about today that really focuses on dreams and turning them from dreams into reality.

Austin Wilson:

But before we start there, number one, you should just pause and if you're driving, pull over please. Go subscribe to theeverydayadvisor.com.

Josh Robb:

Or just plonk your phone next to somebody who is not driving.

[1:04] - Life Updates: Spring Shenanigans, Kids, & Sports

Austin Wilson:

There you go. But don't do this while you're driving. Secondly, Jess, what's going on with your life?

Josh Robb:

Yeah. Anything?

Jessica Hinks:

I mean, it's spring. So we're doing kindergarten screening.

Josh Robb:

Yes.

Jessica Hinks:

Trying to get stuff outside cleaned up and stay warm. I cannot wait.

Josh Robb:

Stay warm is the thing. You get one good day and then it's gone.

Austin Wilson:

70 degrees down to 29. In like a day. One day.

Josh Robb:

There was a 40 degree...

Jessica Hinks:

I can't wait for outdoor work season, which is kind of what inspired the blog as well.

Josh Robb:

Yes.

Austin Wilson:

Absolutely. What about you Josh?

Josh Robb:

Yeah, we're entering spring sports season. So for my family, you got softball, you got baseball. Golf will be starting soon. And then volleyball is still going on.

Austin Wilson:

Yep.

Josh Robb:

And so a lot of fun stuff. A lot of time outside, which, again, is a positive. So I'm out with the kids usually throwing a baseball or softball and so it's good.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah, that's good. And for us, it's spring stuff too. Our middle one's in baton, so she's doing that. Our oldest one's about to start Miracle League Baseball again.

Josh Robb:

Yeah, it's always fun.

Austin Wilson:

Always a blast.

Josh Robb:

The announcer guy there is-

Austin Wilson:

He's great.

Josh Robb:

He's great. Does an awesome job.

[2:09] - The Real Reason Most Dreams Don’t Get Accomplished

Austin Wilson:

So we'll be doing that again this year. But yeah, today we're going to talk about dreams, goals. Sometimes they're never achieved, but how really we should not let that happen because we've got a lot of ways we can not let that happen. So Jess, just talk a little bit about why that is something that happens today when you're talking about dreams.

Jessica Hinks:

Well, why they don't get accomplished?

Austin Wilson:

Yes.

Jessica Hinks:

I mean, there's a whole slew of reasons. I think a lot of times people just, one, don't even spend the time thinking about what they want their life to be.

Austin Wilson:

Right.

Jessica Hinks:

They just kind of let life happen to them in a way. But I've just been giving a lot of thought to the fact that I have this vision for what life could be and literally no one is going to make it happen, except me. And it all kind of came to light when I was thinking about the fact that, "Man, I wish I really had a weeping willow tree."

Austin Wilson:

Yes.

Jessica Hinks:

I've always wanted one.

Austin Wilson:

Yep.

Jessica Hinks:

Grew up in the 90s. Pocahontas was one of my favorite movies.

Josh Robb:

Now, yours probably won't talk.

Jessica Hinks:

Mine won't whip people, but-

Josh Robb:

Or talk.

Jessica Hinks:

... I could use it to whip others perhaps.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah.

Jessica Hinks:

And I was just like, "Well, why don't I just plant the darn thing?" And it just got me thinking about just turning goals into actual actions.

Austin Wilson:

I love that.

Josh Robb:

Because I think that's the first thing, is dreams are internal. And so until you share or express them, no one else knows that you're trying to accomplish this.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. It was like, my own husband didn't even know I wanted to weeping willow tree. We've been married for 10 years before be found out.

Austin Wilson:

Right, right. I think that, like you said, Jess, a lot of people let life happen to them. And I think that that's a sad way to live life because you're reactive all the time instead of proactive. And my dad and I talk a lot about being a doer, not just a sayer. And then I think this goes into that. And you dream, dream at 120%, so that if you settle at 90 or 80, you still did better than most people. So that's kind of where we're going there. So yeah, there's a lot of reasons why dreams don't get accomplished. Some of those is quantifiable. Maybe some people are a little unrealistic. If they do dream, they do dream at 190%. And then that can happen too. And I think that can probably be discouraging at some point too, because it was just not realistic to begin with. But any thoughts on that?

Jessica Hinks:

Well, I've always heard there's no unrealistic dream or unrealistic goal, just an unrealistic deadline.

Austin Wilson:

There you go. I like it.

Jessica Hinks:

You can dream at 190% as long as you give yourself good guidelines, for sure. Everything's attainable.

Austin Wilson:

Right.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. Making something positive.

Austin Wilson:

So what you're saying is, just turning into a plan still too. If you have a large dream, just make sure you have actions in place that can get you there.

Josh Robb:

Yep.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah.

Josh Robb:

And then the, "someday", right? Because a lot of times your dream is, "Oh, someday I'll get there." And you can start actions today to get that process moving. And that's, I think, the thing of dreams don't start, is you just don't ever sit down and say, "What's the first step?" Because if your goal is to have a weeping willow tree-

Jessica Hinks:

Or a million dollars in an IRA.

Josh Robb:

Or a million dollars in IRA. What do I need to do today to get that started? And that's, I think, always where people's dreams stop is just, "Oh, that would be great someday."

[5:09] - Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals & Taking Baby Steps

Austin Wilson:

I think that that's just not a good goal way of thinking, right? If we think about, to get nerdy, smart goals. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound.

Josh Robb:

Yes.

Austin Wilson:

If you don't have a time bound on it, someday can linger out there forever. "I'm going to run that half-marathon someday. I'm not doing that tomorrow or today." So yeah, that's a good point there. So then there's also some lies that sometimes hold people back. Some people think, "Hey, it's too complicated. It's too expensive." But when you break it down, things actually might be more simple than people think, right?

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. I mean, people are able to learn how to do advanced surgeries and computer programming, engineering. They learned all that and they probably didn't start that much smarter than everyone else.

Austin Wilson:

Right, right.

Jessica Hinks:

They just did baby steps. So in my mind, most of our goals are not going to be nearly as hard as getting a medical degree.

Austin Wilson:

No.

Jessica Hinks:

You just got to take a step and then another step. So yeah, if you break it down in small pieces, most things are very achievable.

Austin Wilson:

And you don't need perfection. It doesn't have to be super crazy complicated. You don't need to be perfect at it. You can just make progress towards it. And that's where I think the people also get hung up. What if I miss one little step on my way to my goal? Well, then okay, you just keep going from there.

Josh Robb:

You're still farther along -

Austin Wilson:

Well, that hurts.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. And that's what I want to say. So for those of us who are familiar, we've started using Ninety, which is essentially kind of like goal tracking in our office, right?

Austin Wilson:

Yep.

Jessica Hinks:

And we went years and years of not having a great way to measure tasks or goals. And quite often, we set a goal that's due in the next quarter and we don't always finish it. But man, the amount of goals that we are accomplishing, just because we now have a system to set them up and measure them. It's okay if you don't hit them all. It's just so much more progress.

Josh Robb:

You got 80% to that goal. We're still farther along than we started and you're in a better spot. Yes.

[7:06] - Jessica's Willow Tree Story

Austin Wilson:

So Jess, talk a little bit more about this willow tree that is in your world.

Josh Robb:

Yes.

Austin Wilson:

Obviously, I've seen this bud.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. It's what got me talking about what wrote that blog. So we moved and it's a beautiful property, it has a pond and I was just envisioning it. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, a weeping willow, my childhood dream would look perfect right by the pond."

Austin Wilson:

Right there. Yeah.

Josh Robb:

And it loves being right by water.

Jessica Hinks:

Right. And I just started talking about it to a few coworkers and friends and I just looked online, where to buy a weeping willow tree or how to get a weeping willow tree. And that's when I learned you can propagate them. So you can cut off a snip of an existing branch, not enough to hurt it, just a couple feet. And within a couple of years, you could have almost a full-grown weeping willow tree.

Josh Robb:

That's awesome.

Jessica Hinks:

And supposedly, they're almost foolproof to propagate. So I reached out to an old neighbor who I knew had a weeping willow tree and just sent her a message. I said, "Hey, how's it going?" Told her what I wanted to do, not to be weird, "But could I have a little snip of your branch?"

Austin Wilson:

"Can I come and hack your tree?"

Jessica Hinks:

She no longer lived there, no longer had the weeping willow tree. She wished me well.

Josh Robb:

I bet she would have if she was there.

Jessica Hinks:

She said she absolutely would have. I'm like, "Who wants to have a baby weeping willow tree with me?"

Austin Wilson:

Right, right, right.

Jessica Hinks:

And I just kind of mentioned it a few times to coworkers and just put the word out there that I was in the search and the next thing you know, good old Tony Hixon was like, "Well, I have a weeping willow tree." "I've known you for seven years, I did not know you had a weeping willow tree."

Josh Robb:

That's not a normal intro, "Hi, I'm Tony. I have a weeping willow tree in my backyard."

Jessica Hinks:

We had not brought it up because he never even knew I wanted one, and then-

Austin Wilson:

Pocahontas isn't talked about at the office enough.

Jessica Hinks:

No. And Tony, being a man of his word, brought me a weeping willow branch and it sprouted roots and leaves and...

Josh Robb:

There you go.

Austin Wilson:

The transplant is in a year or so? When it helps, when it's ready.

Josh Robb:

Yes. But that's the key, is those little steps got the ball rolling.

Austin Wilson:

Absolutely.

[9:09] - How This Applies to Financial Planning

Josh Robb:

And that's what we're talking about here when it comes to any dreams or goals, is that it really just takes some momentum. You just got to get that started and then it will continue to build on itself as we go along the way. I think that that's where we can tie it directly into finances and financial planning because it's all about ambiguity and vague goals versus concrete goals and clarity.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah.

Josh Robb:

So if you keep your goal really vague, like, "I want to be comfortable."

Jessica Hinks:

So hard.

Austin Wilson:

What would you do with that? That can mean a lot of different things to a lot of-

Josh Robb:

"I want to have enough money."

Austin Wilson:

That can mean a lot to a lot of different people.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. I think that's one of the hardest parts about our job is helping our clients get specific with their goals. And I'm guilty of not doing a good job here. With me, I don't want to pry or make people uncomfortable, but you can't just say, "Oh, I want to retire early." Or even people say, "Oh, I want to buy a lake house." You could get a little house on Lake Erie for a couple of hundred thousand dollars or we could do a lake lake house in Tennessee for 2 million.

Austin Wilson:

And that can mean a lot of different things.

Jessica Hinks:

And so you cannot make a vague goal a reality. You got to get specific.

Austin Wilson:

Or like you can't just say, "Once I retire, I'm going to travel." Well, what do you mean? How many vacations are you taking? How much are you spending? How long are you going to be gone? Or "I want to feel less stressed about money."

Josh Robb:

Or even, "I want to retire early." What's early?

Jessica Hinks:

45, 50 or 60?

Josh Robb:

Tomorrow? What are we talking about? Yes. Those are all vagueness that really can be better defined if you spend some time to do it. And it becomes that big dream to be a more clarified dream, right? It's clearer. It has more definition to steps to get there. And that's the key, just taking it from a big pipe dream of some day and putting it into action steps.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the complexities of managing your wealth? At Hixon Zuercher Capital Management, we specialize in helping affluent families and individuals navigate the complex challenges of managing their finances. Wealth management is all about combining thoughtful financial planning with active investment management to help you reach your goals. Achieving your dreams requires careful planning, smart decision making, and access to high quality investments. That's where we come in. We integrate your financial goals with your core values, helping you visualize the possibilities your wealth can create for a secure future.

If you're ready to take the next step, visit hzcapital.com/start. Again, that's hzcapital.com/start. Now let's get back to today's episode.

[11:48] - Turning Dreams into Actionable Steps

Austin Wilson:

So how can we turn those dreams into those action steps? So let's get really practical with it. What do you start with?

Josh Robb:

Yes. The first step is better defining, right? The first action step is, take that dream and add more, more clarity to it, more vision to it so that... Because in your head you may actually see it all. You saw the willow tree and everything there, but until you described it to others, no one else saw that full vision clearly. So first step is, define that. Put the steps to it.

Jessica Hinks:

And the next, I would say, our job is really assigning a cost to that. So the client has to describe what it is they want, we have to assign a cost to it and then we have to help them prioritize it against their other goals. And if that seems in line where they've got an understanding of the cost, they understand how it ranks against their other goals, it's really our job to help advise them on, what do you need to save to get there, what tweaks do you need to do?

Josh Robb:

And then even better, defining the timeline, because once you know the cost and how it measures to other goals, you can then set an actual timeline to it. This is a realistic expectation of when it can be achieved, because until you know the cost and kind of where it sits in your priorities, you don't even know when it really could come about.

Austin Wilson:

Well, you bring up a great point, both of you. I think that one thing that is easy to forget is that goals don't exist in a vacuum. So if you have goals and you have dreams and you have ideas, that is competing with other things because, a lake house or whatever, it's not the only thing that matters. So this is where I think working with an advisor really has a lot of help, because they can help you assign where this fits and how much is available to do everything with everything else. It's not just doing the one thing.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. Very few of us have enough money to really hit all of our dreams.

Austin Wilson:

Right, right, right.

Jessica Hinks:

It's just not real life for most people. And so if we can just sit down with someone or talk with a friend and figure out which goals align most really with my core values. And that's something we talk about a lot.

Austin Wilson:

Yes.

Jessica Hinks:

Just because I want something to happen, doesn't mean it should happen. What needs to happen to really create the life that I want?

Josh Robb:

Or maybe that dream evolves to be slightly different because you lined it up to your values. So maybe that lake house turns into additions to your current house because your real goal was just a central location for all of my kids and you realize, "I actually have what I need if I do this and this." And so your dream shifts to be more in line with your values. Or the idea is that the first thing you dreamt may not be the final spot, but it may be better than what you first thought.

Austin Wilson:

So as advisors, how do you keep track of progress on these dreams and these goals?

Jessica Hinks:

Well, sometimes it's just, we track it in financial plans. So we figure out what the goal is and then we calculate really how much you need to save or what you need to do to get there. And the nice thing about financial progress is it's really easy to measure.

Austin Wilson:

Dollar, are you there? Are you not?

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. So we might have to tweak things under certain market conditions and such, but as long as you keep on meeting regularly and having discussions, it's easy to track.

Josh Robb:

Yeah. And then just always reaffirming, is this goal, this dream still the priority level that we had it at? Because something new may come up and always just, like you said, just keeping that conversation going of, is this still the priority we need to be focused on?

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. And I think something that's also worth keeping in our minds is, when you get whatever you need to do to actually achieve the goal, go do it.

Josh Robb:

Yeah.

Austin Wilson:

You want it, it was important to you and it's really easy to sit on a big lump of cash because it's nice and it's pretty and it's fun to sit there and look at it, but that doesn't go out and actually fulfill the goal that you had for yourself. It doesn't fulfill the thing that you were going to use to spend time with family or your spouse or traveling or buying the RV or whatever that is. Go do the dang thing.

Jessica Hinks:

Yeah. A lump of cash isn't going to pull your grandkids on a inner tube in the lake, right?

Austin Wilson:

I know.

Jessica Hinks:

That's what you've always dreamed of.

Austin Wilson:

It's fun to look at, but it's really not that fun.

Jessica Hinks:

It doesn't do a lot.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. Anything else on goals, dreams?

Josh Robb:

No. I'll just always say, "Don't be afraid to share those dreams with those people close to you because you may find they'll help motivate you to get that started." I think that's the first step.

Jessica Hinks:

Or in the sense of Tony Hixon, they might just literally provide it to you, because people like help, people like getting engaged, but if they don't know how to help you, you're not going to get it.

Austin Wilson:

Yeah. So keep dreaming. Dream at 120%.

Josh Robb:

There you go.

Austin Wilson:

That's what I say. All right. Well, if you found any value in today's episode, subscribe to thewealthmindsetshow.com and then you won't miss any episodes when we drop them. And don't forget to follow us on social media where we'd love to stay in touch with you and you can see new content and new episodes as they hit. And if you're interested in what we do at Hixon Zuercher Capital Management, visit us at hzcapital.com. Otherwise, have a great week and thank you for listening.

Josh Robb:

Talk to you later.

Thank you for joining us at The Wealth Mindset Show, where we tackle the complexities of finance and life planning to help you align your wealth with your values. We hope today's conversation provided value and clarity as you navigate your financial journey.

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