The Four F's.....
And falling flat on your face….
On Christmas Day I went ‘skurfing’
Where a boat pulls a surfboard… and you get up and surf, basically
No problem, I thought. Anyway, 6 attempts, each ended in a face plant into the water
One of which is below
Anyway, it got me thinking about goals and goal setting, given the time of year
And how it is OK to fail at your goals, as long as you actually try
As long as you give it your all
As long as you execute on a preset plan
How do you create a plan?
How do you set goals for a new year?
What framework do you use?
Over the past 11 years, I have started reviewing my goals for the new year about
November time
I write them down, print them out, stick them on my wall
And as of 2019, I have been writing these each year in the same book – picture of the book
below, and picture of one of the years below (2022)
After reviewing the goals each year, I noticed they broadly fall into four categories
And as a result, I came up with the ‘Four Fs Framework’
You have four overarching goals, broken down into monthly, weekly and daily ‘actions’
The Four Fs;
Finance
Fitness
Friends / Family
Focus
This, I find, gives me a good coverage of all areas that need to be balanced and worked on
See below from 2022;
Finance – two properties
Fitness – Ironman Triathlon 70.3
Focus – Business Growth
Friends / Family – GAB or ‘Great All Black’
You then break these down into actions;
Two properties – how much I save each month? What are the dates for buying them?
What type of property? Based on what I need to save, what does each month and then
each day look like?
Ironman 70.3 – working back from the date of the event, what training needs to be done?
Have I got a training plan? What weight do I need to be at? Then, what needs to be done
each day? Hit your sessions, eat well, etc
Business Growth – what does this realistically look like? How do we improve those areas?
Break that down into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks.
Family / Friends – ‘Great All Black’ comes from Richie McCaw’s book (a legendary NZ
rugby player), where he set out a goal about becoming an ‘All Black’ (playing for NZ rugby).
His uncle says it’s not enough to just become an All Black, you must become a ‘Great All
Black’, and how do you do that?
I took the concept and applied it to being a ‘great bloke’ to friends and family. What does
that mean? Calling on birthdays, staying in touch, making time, etc.
What is the process?
Start thinking about what will motivate you and what you want to achieve
Write down first drafts based on each of the Four Fs
Break down what needs to be done monthly
Break down what needs to be done weekly
Break down what needs to be done daily
And there you have your roadmap for hitting your goals
Then, every June, run a ‘Refocus’ session, where you review progress and adjust the
above
Please feel free to use the 4F framework if you think it will help you this year
Please drop me a note back if you have questions on how to do it
Please drop me a note back if buying property is part of your plans for 2026 and you would
like some guidance or support.
Thanks
Callum