How to set goals

Goals

Introduction

Setting goals is a difficult task for all of us. Some have thousands of goals whereas others cannot even think of one goal. Even if we have a set of goals. Some predefined personal goals might not even be your true goal. It can even distract you from it. Jim Rohn, one of the most influential person and starred in many motivational speeches and public speaking, explains in his book the 7 strategies for wealth and happiness how to set goals. 

I would kindly recommend you to actively participate in this exercise. As this exercise might change your life by becoming the participant instead of the spectator. It’s the first step towards developing the life you always dreamed of. 

So lets get to the exercise;

Long-term goals

Step 1: Take out your notebook or a sheet of paper and write down the heading ‘Long-Range Goals’. On the sheet of paper, you should answer this question; 

  • What do I want within the next one to ten years?

An effective way to do this step is to write down as many goals as possible within 12 to 15 minutes. Write down the goal in a nutshell. So don’t write any details in this step. That will come later. 

For example, If you want a Lamborghini Aventador in matt-black with red interior. Just write down ‘ Lamborghini.

Step 2: The next step after you have written as many goals as possible within the 15 minutes is putting the number of years you believe it takes to achieve or acquire the item or goal next to it. 

  • Write down the number 1 when you believe it takes 1 year to achieve
  • Write down the number 3 when you believe it will take 3 years to achieve
  • Write down the number 5 when you believe it will take 5 years to achieve
  • Write down the number 10 when you believe it takes 10 years to achieve

Note: You should check the list after you have written down the numbers behind the goals. If you find out that you have many 10-year goals compared to your 1-year goals, then it probably means that you are postponing to act now to achieve your long-term goal. On the contrary, If you have many 1 year goals instead of 10-year goals, perhaps means that you haven’t decided yet what kind of life you want to lead eventually. 

The key here is to develop a balance between long and short-term goals. 

Step 3: Once the goals are balanced, choose the 4 goals from each of the four categories(1-Year, 3-Year, 5-Year and 10-Year) that you consider the most important. Now that you have sixteen goals, write down a short paragraph per goal which includes the following;

  1. In this step, you should write down the details of your goal or item that you want. A detailed description. So be concrete when you write down this part. 
  2. The reason why you want to achieve or acquire the goal you described. If you can’t come up with a valid reason for your goal/item, then it’s not a worthy/true goal for you. If that’s the case, then you should replace it with something else.

Short-Term Goals

Now that we understand our main long-term goals, it’s now time for the short-term goals. These goals can be achieved within a day, a month or a year. The short-term goals are small tasks/goals that you can do daily that are related to the long-term goal. 

Jim Rohn calls these kinds of goals ‘confidence builders’ because these small accomplishments give you the confidence to go on. It helps you build confidence to continue the journey to achieve the long-term goal. 

So, now that we have a list of long-term goals, it’s up to you to think of the short-term projects to achieve your goals. 

Remember, these projects should be related to your long-term goal. 

Here is a small exercise that you can do:

Step 1: Write down in your journey, diary or notebook what you have to do to achieve your long-term goals. 

Step 2: Organize your tasks. When will you work on it. If the task/project is bigger, than I recommend you to make it manageable by creating subcategories.  

Step 3: Once you finished the task, mark it off as completed, take time to celebrate your achievement and enjoy your victory! You deserve it, and it will only inspire you to do more. 

Note: Whenever procrastination hits you, or you don’t complete the project because of laziness, then I would find a way to pay for my indolence. 

A key thought: ‘Make losing painful’

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