Most agents don’t have bad intentions. They just have bad goals.

When you ask them what they want to do next year, the answers usually sound like this:

“I want to go from $185k to $250k.”
“I want to double my units.”
“I want to make six figures.”

On the surface, these sound ambitious. But when you ask why that’s the goal, the answers fall apart. “It just sounds like a good number.” “My coach told me to double it.” “I’ve never done that before.”

Those are not real reasons. They are marketing slogans you tell yourself. And when the year gets hard, they will not hold.

Why “Cool Number” Goals Collapse

Imagine you decide you want to make $250,000 in 2026 simply because it sounds impressive. There’s no deeper reason, no emotional connection, just a round number you like.

Now fast forward.

The first quarter, you’re already off pace. A major fire hits your market. Inventory dries up or rates spike. Suddenly your world is chaos.

In that moment, “It sounded cool” will never be enough to get you on the phone, to host another open house, or to ask one more person for the appointment. You’ll find excuses. You’ll quietly lower the target in your head.

If your reason is shallow, your performance will be shallow.

“Don’t set goals that impress people at happy hour; set goals that still make sense after a bad quarter.”

Build a Vision That Hurts to Lose

So what’s the alternative?

You need a big why that is specific, detailed, and painful to lose. Not “I want freedom.” Not “I want a vacation.” That’s way too vague.

Instead, picture this:

You’re at a lakehouse you purchased with your real estate income. It’s Thanksgiving. Your family is in the living room; you can hear them laughing. The house smells like turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. There’s a crisp breeze outside. Through the window you see the sun starting to set over the lake. You invited extended family to stay at the cabin, and everyone is together.

That is what your work paid for.

Now, mentally take it away.

Say to yourself, “This did not happen. My family didn’t get this lakehouse. We didn’t have that Thanksgiving together. We didn’t get that sunset over the water… because I didn’t want to make my calls.”

That’s the power of a meaningful vision. It’s not just inspiring; it creates consequences for quitting.

The LID Worksheet: What Your Life Actually Costs

Once your vision is clear, it’s time to pressure test it with math. That’s where the LID worksheet comes in.

LID stands for:

• Lifestyle
• Investing
• Debts

You start by listing out what it really costs to run your life and household. Not guessing—writing it down.

Groceries. Utilities. Cell phones. Daycare. Kids’ sports. Vacations. Birthdays. Emergencies. Hobbies. Date nights. Charitable giving.

Then you move into investing: savings for a down payment, retirement accounts, college funds, long-term investments.

Finally, you list debts: student loans, car payments, mortgage, HELOCs, and so on.

When you put real numbers to these categories, the total might surprise you. In my own example, once we added groceries, daycare, lake trips, kids’ jiu-jitsu and gymnastics, vacations, birthdays, insurance, savings, and debt payments, our LID number came out to about $142,000.

Here’s the key most agents miss:

That $142,000 is profit, not GCI.

Profit, Not Bragging Rights

Too many agents brag about GCI and ignore profit. You might hear, “I did $350,000 in GCI last year!” and it sounds incredible. But then you ask, “What was your profit?” and the room gets quiet.

Between overspending on tools, leads, and subscriptions—or not investing in the business at all—agents end up suffocating either their company or their personal finances.

Your LID number is the amount you need to take home after expenses and cost of sale. That’s why, in a healthy real estate business model:

• Expenses are around 20-30%
• Cost of Sale is around 30%
• Profit is around 40-50%

When you see it this way, you stop saying, “I just need to make $142,000.” You start saying, “I need $142,000 in profit, so my GCI and transaction goals must be higher than that.”

From Big Scary Number to Simple Appointments

Here’s the good news: once you have your LID number, you can run it through an economic model.

That model takes into account:

• Your profit target (your LID)
• Your expense and cost-of-sale percentages
• Your average commission per deal
• Your conversion rates from lead → contact → appointment → client → closed deal

From there, you can reverse engineer your scary number into something simple like:

“You need to go on 20 appointments next year.”

Suddenly, a $142,000 profit target turns into “Can you do two appointments per month?”

Almost every agent can get their head around that. The weight lifts. The goal feels achievable. And because it’s based on your real life and your real why, it actually matters to you when things get hard.

Your Next Steps

1. Write your vivid 2026 vision.
   • Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, weather, who’s there, what you’re doing.
2. Complete your LID worksheet.
   • Get brutally honest about your lifestyle, investing, and debts.
3. Protect that vision with math.
   • Use your LID as your profit target and plug it into your economic model.

When your why is vivid and your numbers are real, your 2026 goal stops being a wish—and becomes a plan.