Have you ever had a goal, only to realize that if you had paid attention you've already attained it?

Almost two years ago, I was on a business trip in Ucluelet. It was in April of 2016 when I decided that I had enough of that freezing cold month in Quebec, bought a ticket and went to my favorite place on earth for 3 weeks.

Even though I was there, in one of the most beautiful places I knew, I felt lonely as hell. After working by the ocean in the lobby of a hotel, I would wander around feeling depressed and lonely.

Let's say I was not in the best of position in my life. I was almost 30, I was in debt, never owned a car and single. I had written my goals down but at that point, I didn't see how they could ever happen.

Here are 2 of the items that was on my list:

1. I want to get married to a women who is graceful, has a moral compass, has family value, that put God first and that will inspire me to be the best version of myself.
2. I want to be able to provide for my family. I want to give the option to my future wife to stay at home to raise the kids if she desire to do so. For that, I think I have to make at least 6 figures a year (we are taxed like hell here in Canada)

Needless to say, those 2 seemed unattainable from where I was at that point. But little did I know that I would meet my wife about a month later and get married 15 months later to the love of my life.

The second goal seemed even more impossible to attain. Yet few weeks later, a friend of mine brought me in the very early version of Steemit.com. Many people didn't believe that the first payout would ever happen on July 4th. But I blogged like a banshee to the point where I was the highest paid author (pending) for multiple weeks.

That's the funny things with goals...it's not like I was obsessed with them or anything. I just sat down, decided on what I wanted, wrote down on a piece of paper and went on with my life. Somehow...I was on auto-pilot toward my goals without realizing it.

Drawing An Income From Steem?

That was my big problem. I was afraid to ever touch my STEEM tokens. Why? Well, I was afraid to deal with the taxes associated with turning them into fiat to be honest.

I was "comfortable" with my income from my day job so I figured that I would not touch them and let them accumulate.

It was only this week that I realized that, if I wanted to, I could complement my current income so that I can achieve the goal of earning a 6 figure income. (Thank you SteemWorld!)

In the last 30 days, through curation alone I made 1,133.35 STEEMPOWER. In Canadian dollars that means $2,778.64 CAD per month in somewhat passive income. Add in the authors rewards and that's around 1557.49 STEEM or $3,807.36 CAD per month.

This means that without touching my principle, I could add an extra $45,688.32 to my income per year. Until this week, I never realized that. 2018 will be the year where I finally reach my goal...just in time for the baby :-)

When Should YOU Draw an Income From Steem?

First thing, would be to determine you goal. Are you happy with your work? Do you want to have additional income or are you saving for retirement?

I can only speak for those who wants an income. But all goals are valid at different times in your life.

What you want is enough STEEMPOWER to make a steady flow of STEEM coming from curation. With more STEEMPOWER also comes more visibility and better author's rewards over time if you create good content.

Keep an eye on your steemworld account and look at how much you made in the past 30 days. That will give you an idea of what you could touch without affecting your principle.

You should start drawing an income when:

1. You know how to deal with the tax ramification of doing so.
2. You like the amount of principle you have in order to benefit from the rise in the price of STEEM.
3. You've attained the income level that you would like.

Conclusion

Goals are important. We are goal directed beings and without a clear idea of where you would like to be, it's very difficult to get there. Does it mean it will happen fast? No. Does it mean it will happen exactly as you though it would? No. Does it mean you will ever attain at all? Maybe.

But what matter the most is that we are most fulfilled in life when we are in the active pursuit of a worthy goal and that we are making noticable progress towards it.

You'll realize that if you ever attain the goal you've set for yourself, you'll have to set another one for you to pursue...otherwise, you'll stagnate and get stuck like I did in the past after reaching a major milestone.

PS: I highly recommended the future authoring program of Jordan Peterson. It's fantastic for serious goal setting.