Do you know the secret to bringing desired success into your life? It is “personal goal setting.” Read further to reveal the secret.
Are you working hard with full discipline but don’t see any changes in your life? Are you constantly striving to increase your income, yet you’re unable to achieve it? Have you noticed a lack of significant improvement in your life despite working tirelessly with full dedication?
Go and check if you have your list of goals. If you are somewhere right now, check your smartphone to see if you are listing your goals. Look through your personal belongings when you return home to see if you have a list of objectives. Ask your family members if you have given them your list of goals.
This is because if you do not have a goal list, you won’t achieve the desired results no matter how hard you work. You won’t reach your goals, no matter how hard you work, if you lose your list. Your income will not increase if you do not have a list of goals.
For example, if you have to go to Mumbai by train, you will book a train ticket. Additionally, while booking a ticket, you will select your berth preference, such as AC or General. You will also know the distance that you have to travel to reach Mumbai from the starting point. You will decide what you have to eat when traveling.
We want to emphasize that you are very specific when booking a train ticket. You are clear about your berth preference, know the distance you will travel, and have the necessary contact details. You have already decided on your meal plan for the train. In simple terms, you know everything that contributes to making your journey safe and happy.
Then how can you be so careless about your life even if your life journey is far more distant than your train journey? How can you take your life for granted? Could you please consider the significance of setting goals?
If you are so specific about a train journey of a few kilometers, you need to be very serious about your life journey. Setting goals is the first step towards optimizing your life.
Moreover, this is a complete guide on how to set goals and achieve them. Here we will take a closer look at goal setting and help you reach your destination by setting the right goals.
You can always set and achieve your goals, no matter where you are in life. Now, let’s get started.
What are Short-Term Goals and Long-Term goals?
Before you proceed further, you need to know what the goal is: short-term goal and long-term goal. By setting the right goals, you will be able to achieve that goal with the right action plan.
A goal can be both personal and professional. But fundamentals are always the same. After all, a goal is what you need to keep your life moving.
It makes your life purposeful. When you achieve your goal, it brings you joy. A goal provides significance to your life. A personal goal is a result that you want to achieve. A goal is what makes your life adventurous.
Your goal can be anything from buying your own house and a laptop to meeting people. Or anything that you decide to accomplish in a particular period. Now let’s see what a short-term goal and a long-term goal are.
1. Short-Term goal
Short-term goals, as their name suggests, are those that you can accomplish within a brief timeframe. This type of goal can be anything you want to accomplish in a time frame of up to one year. For example, you can have a goal that you want to achieve in a week, a month, or a year.
A short-term goal can be anything from enrolling in a course, buying a management book, creating a portfolio website, watching a movie, meeting a friend, or calling family members to clean the house. Alternatively, it could be anything you can accomplish swiftly.
2. Long-Term goal
Long-term goals are ones that require time. You can achieve this goal in a year, but in most cases, it takes more than a year.
For example, you have to start your own IT company. You can’t begin an IT company in a day or two. You will need to invest a significant amount of time in it, which may take more than one year.
If we talk about more examples, it includes:
- Graduating from college.
- Saving money for retirement.
- Having a dream home.
- Having a luxurious car.
- Wearing branded clothes and more.
Tips for Setting and Achieving Goals
When it comes to setting goals, you have to keep in mind a lot of things. Setting a goal doesn’t mean you can only think about what you want to achieve.
Goal setting starts from brainstorming and follows a particular process. Moreover, below we will share some tips to help set and achieve your goals. You can also call it goal-setting skills.
1. Make sure you have S-M-A-R-T-E-R goals
Before setting your goals, you must ensure that they follow the rules of SMARTER goals. This rule says that your goal should have the following properties:
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Achievable
R- Realistic
T- Timely
E- Evaluative/Ethical
R- Rewarding
This rule will teach you what you need to keep in mind when setting your goals.
Let’s understand it with an example.
You want to start a new social media campaign. (S)
Your goal is to achieve 100 content downloads. (M)
A marketing team is working on running the campaign and measuring the results. (A)
You want to let your audience know about some new features. (R)
You have instructed your marketing team to run the campaign for only two months. (T)
Your intention is genuine to run this campaign. (E)
After two months, you will achieve the results (R)
2. Write down all your goals
You have to brainstorm the goals that you want to achieve. After you brainstorm, you have to create a list of goals. The list should be divided into two parts: short-term goals and long-term goals.
In the list of short-term goals, you have to write down everything you want to achieve in a week, month, or even a year. It can be anything from buying a new laptop, a saree for your mother, or a refrigerator to a bike. Even if it is a pen, you have to include it in the list of short-term goals.
The same is true for making a list of long-term objectives. These goals can include anything from buying a new house or a luxurious car to any other significant financial investment.
3. Have a visual presentation of your personal goal-setting
This is one of the most important parts of personal goal setting. In this step, you need to gather images that represent your goals. Yes, you heard right. You can easily find pictures of what you want to achieve in the short and long term on the internet.
So, explore the internet and download images of your goals. For example, if you want to visit a vacation destination with your family in the next month, find the image of that location and get a color print of it. Make sure you have an image print with a decent size that is easily visible.
Paste the image in your bedroom or where you live. When you do this, maybe your family members will mock you. But you don’t have to worry about what others think. Just believe in yourself and paste the image of your goal.
On the other hand, you can also create a goal book. This means you can use a diary to paste all the images of your goals and make it a goal book.
You can do both of these things in your personal goals. But if it is a professional goal, it is good to paste your destination’s image on a wall in your company.
4. Punch a date when you want to achieve your goal
Along with creating a visual representation of your goal, you also need to include a date in your plan. This date will be the day you want to achieve the goal. For example, the final deadline to achieve your goal is next year, December. You can read our other self-care post here.
5. Create an action plan
This is an essential part of your personal goal setting. If you compromise it, you can’t make your dream come true.
After all, whether it is a short or long-term goal, you have to prepare a complete action plan. This means what things you have to do to achieve your goal.
Conclusion
Without setting goals, your life is like a ship without a rudder. And you might have heard this quote too many times in your life. After all, the rudder gives directions to the ship about which location it has to go to.
Just like that, if you have not set any goals, you won’t know where you have to go or which direction to choose for your life. So, no matter what you do or your age, personal goal-setting always works and gives you a purpose and direction.
Now it is your turn to transform your life by setting your goals. So what are you waiting for? Take a pen and paper and begin with your goal setting.
We hope this guide will simplify goal setting.
