One of the most common assumptions people make is this:
“I’ll be happy when…”
I’ll be happy when I can retire.
I’ll be happy when the mortgage is paid off.
I’ll be happy when I have enough money.
I’ll be happy when I can work less.
I’ll be happy when I’ve achieved financial freedom.
At first glance, these seem like perfectly reasonable goals.
In fact, many of them are exactly the kinds of goals financial planners help clients work towards every day.
But there is a subtle trap hidden within them.
The trap is that happiness becomes conditional. Life gets placed on hold.
And before people realise it, they find themselves living in what I sometimes think of as life’s waiting room.
Waiting for retirement, the next promotion, or for some future circumstance that promises to deliver the feeling they are looking for.
The problem is that life doesn’t work well that way.
Why SMART goals aren’t enough
Most of us have come across the idea of SMART goals.
The wisdom is that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound.
There is certainly value in having clarity around what we want to achieve.
But have you ever set a perfectly good goal and then found your motivation disappear halfway through?
I certainly have.
For years I assumed there was something wrong with me.
Perhaps I lacked discipline, motivation, or I simply didn’t want success badly enough.
What I eventually realised was that the issue wasn’t my commitment.
It was the nature of the goal itself.
The great Western disease
Marshall Goldsmith famously described what he called the great Western disease:
“I’ll be happy when…”
It’s a mindset that quietly suggests our wellbeing lives somewhere in the future.
Just over the horizon, one achievement away, or just past the next milestone.
Yet if this were true, wouldn’t every wealthy, successful, accomplished person be fulfilled and content?
Clearly that isn’t the case.
We all know examples of people who appear to have everything and yet still struggle with dissatisfaction, anxiety, or unhappiness.
The reason is simple.
The feelings we are looking for do not come from our circumstances. They come from within.
This understanding sits at the heart of the inside-out nature of human experience.
We don’t experience life through our circumstances. We experience life through thought in the moment.
That means no amount of money, success, status, or achievement has the power to permanently give us what we are already capable of experiencing right now.
A healthier way to think about goals
None of this means goals are unimportant.
Far from it.
Goals can inspire us. They can provide direction. They can help us make meaningful decisions.
But there is a profound difference between pursuing a goal because it expresses something meaningful to us and pursuing a goal because we believe our happiness depends upon it.
One creates freedom.
The other creates pressure.
Think about something you genuinely love doing.
It could be a favourite hobby, walking in nature, gardening, writing, or spending time with family.
You may have outcomes you hope for, but the activity itself has intrinsic value.
You would do it even if there were no guarantee of a particular result.
The journey is part of the reward.
Healthy goals work in much the same way. The destination matters. But so does the experience of getting there.
This is one of the keys to being in a state of ‘flow‘ as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote about in his best-selling book of the same name.
What this means for financial planners
One of the greatest gifts a financial planner can offer is helping clients see beyond the numbers.
Behind every financial goal sits deeper aspirations.
*Security.
*Freedom.
*Peace of mind.
*Choice.
*Connection.
*Time with the people they love.
When you help clients uncover what really matters, something interesting happens.
The conversation changes.
Financial planning becomes less about reaching a future destination and more about creating a life that is meaningful now, whilst also building for tomorrow.
After all, what is the point of helping someone achieve financial freedom if they spend the next twenty years feeling trapped?
The most successful financial plans don’t simply help people arrive somewhere in the future.
They help people enjoy the journey as well.
Because the real goal was never the money.
The money was simply a vehicle for living well.
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