Setting Goals for a Fulfilling and Happy Life
Regardless of what you would like to achieve in your life, without goal setting you will most probably not succeed. Some of the goals take years to achieve, while others can be fulfilled in a day. Achieving a goal will improve your sense of self-worth and it will also improve your self-image. The more goals you achieve, the better you will feel about yourself and the more trust you will have that you can fulfill any goal you can think of. Start small and build your list of goals up to those really important ones. One of your goals might be to beat procrastination.
1. Decide
You have to ask yourself the question what you want to achieve in life. If you are thinking about setting personal goals, you have to make sure you don’t set general goals, such as being happy. That is not a goal. Happiness is a byproduct.
2. Write it down
By having your goals on paper, there is a certain degree of accountability. Make sure you also set reasonable deadlines, which shouldn’t be more than a year for short-term goals. Writing your goals down makes them more real.
3. Tell people
By telling people about your goals, they will set their expectations accordingly and you don’t want to disappoint them. By setting goals and sharing them with others you won’t have the possibility to back down because you don’t want to let others and yourself down.
4. Set smaller goals
All people have life goals. These take years to accomplish, so you should set smaller goals that will help you achieve them. For instance, you can’t run a marathon if you don’t go running at least 3-4 times per week.
5. Plan one step at a time
You should categorize the areas of your life where you want to set goals. If you have some major goals to achieve, you should break them up into smaller ones. These will be the milestones you will have to achieve.
6. Keep at it
When wondering how to set goals, for sure you know that you should never give up on your goals. If it was easy, everybody would achieve everything they ever wanted. This is what makes you special: you actually stick with it.
7. Time for celebration
You have to be able to be happy for your small victories too. Each time you cross a goal, you should have some kind of celebration. You might celebrate with a new manicure or by going shopping.
8. Adjust your goals
If you want to set goals, there is one thing you will have to remember: life is constantly changing. This is why you should make sure that you revise your goals periodically and you will adjust them according to your current needs.
How to Set up Goals That Will Help You Advance in Your Life and Achieve Everything You Ever Dreamed Of
What should you be thinking about when it comes to setting goals? Here are some steps you should make to ensure that you will actually reach your goals.
1. Decide what you want
You can’t just decide that in this afternoon you will choose your goals. When asking how to set goals, you have to know what you want to achieve today, tomorrow, next week, next month, or in your life. These are the most important questions you will have to answer. Don’t give general answer, such as “I want to be happy”. That is not a goal; it’s not measurable. You may have the goal to own your business or to become fit.
If you want to set goals, there is nothing wrong with broad goals, but they have to be measurable for you to know when you achieve them. How could you measure happiness? How do you know when you are really happy?
2. Write it down to make it official
Now that you know how to set a goal and you know what you want to accomplish, it is time to put everything on paper. For each goal you should set a time frame and a deadline. If you write down your goals, you will be somewhat compelled to fulfill them, leading to a degree of accountability.
In case you are setting personal goals, such as getting fit, you should start by eating healthier and preparing for a marathon. If you want to have your own business, you should take an accounting class and start looking for the perfect location. At the moment writing might seem a waste of time, but you will be grateful you did on the long run.
3. Tell people about your goals
When asking how to set personal goals, there is no reason to keep your goals a secret. As a matter of fact, it might be easier to accomplish them if you tell people. This is why people find it easier to let themselves down than to let others down. If someone knows about your goals, they might ask about it later and it would feel bad to say that you gave up on it.
In the process of setting life goals you don’t have to tell people what you’re planning, but you can tell them about the end result. Discuss your plans with the people who care about you and they will give you their support on the way.
4. Set smaller goals – one step at a time
If you would like to know how to set up goals, you should start by defining the areas of your life in which you would like to set goals. You could be thinking about career, finances, health, education, and family. Ask yourself what you would like to achieve in these areas. If you have the big goal of getting fit, you could start with the smaller goal of eating healthier.
The life goal of owning a business means that you should set as a smaller goal to learn about how to manage a business. You have to learn how to set realistic goals, because you can’t expect to own a hotel chain in the next three years.
5. Plan one step at a time – baby steps
If you already know what your life goals are, you should set your other goals so that they will be steps towards the life goal. When setting a goal, always think about where it will take you. For instance, if you want to get fit, you should set as a short-term goal to take up a new sport during the next month.
In case you are setting goals and objectives and you realize that your current goals won’t help you achieve your life goal, it might be time to revise them. Even if you write your goals down, they aren’t set in stone and after all, it is your life we’re talking about.
6. Keep at it – never give up
If you know the importance of setting goals, you also know that you should never give up on your goals. At some point it might seem impossible to achieve it, but keep in mind that if your mind can think of it, your willpower can help you achieve it. It all comes down to motivation. How badly do you want to get fit? How badly do you want to have your own business? If these don’t give you enough motivation, it means that they aren’t the right goals for you.
7. Time for celebration, no matter how small the victory is
If you are done with setting performance goals, you should reward yourself every time you achieve a goal, not matter how small it might be. This will help you with your motivation on the long run. You shouldn’t spend a lot of money on celebrating, especially if you have big financial goals. However, you should buy yourself something you wanted for a long time. You could also pamper yourself by spending a day at the spa, for example.
8. Adjust your goals and revise them
The truth about goalsetting is that the life goals don’t really change as most people have a pretty good idea regarding what they want from life. However, the smaller goals might constantly change as life changes. Since the decision is yours, you have all the flexibility you need. If you wanted to get fit and run a 5K, you might find this goal too easy, so you may adjust it to a 10K or a half marathon. Also make sure you don’t work for a goal that becomes useless at some point.
Some people might ask why set goals. You should set goals for your life to have a guideline. If you don’t have goals, you are just drifting with no specific destination. What are you working for then?
