Your assignment is to think through the things you want to accomplish in life. This is not a short-term assignment, and it is likely the most important part of your entire financial plan. The purpose of this assignment is to have you write down your goals for your future and determine where you want to be in the next day, week, month, year, or lifetime. President Thomas S. Monson stated:

When we deal in generalities, we rarely have success; but when we deal in specifics, we rarely have a failure ( Thomas S. Monson, “Seven Steps to Success With Aaronic Priesthood Youth,” Ensign, Feb. 1985, 22).

Be very specific with the goals that you set.

As you think through your goals, recognize that there are many different ways to organize them. You can organize them by time frame: short-term, less than one year; medium-term, more than one year and less than ten years; and long-term, more than ten years. You can organize them by responsibility: family, work, education, church, etc. And you can organize them by priorities, with your highest priority goals first.

Regardless of your choice of organization, I encourage you to think about what you want to accomplish and to take your top three goals and write about them in detail. Goals and house plans are very similar; the better the house plans, the closer the completed house will be to the planned house, and likely, the better the house. Likewise, the better and more thought-out the goals, the greater the chance that what you actually become is close to what you planned.

Next, think about what Heavenly Father wants you to become. If we truly believe that He knows us intimately and only does what is best for us, then we can become nothing better than what He wants for us. The challenge, then, is to come to understand His will for us, and to try to become that. While it often takes a lifetime to truly understand what He wants for us, we can know, through study, prayer, and hard work, some important information about the direction our lives should take.

What do you think Heavenly Father wants you to do or become? As you answer this question, ponder the scriptures and the purpose of your life here on earth. Think about times when you felt closest to the Spirit. What was the direction you felt inclined to go? Think about patriarchal blessings, father’s blessings, and other priesthood blessings you have received. What direction and guidance were you given? Try to answer this question with as much honesty and detail as you can. While it is a very difficult question, it is an important question to answer.

Finally, write your obituary. What do you want to be remembered for? If we think about how we want to be remembered, we can better lead and live our lives in that direction.