It is important to set goals in life; otherwise, how do you know what you have reached when you have reached it? For that matter, how will you answer the one universal job interview question, “where do you see yourself in 5 years” question without knowing what your goals are? Goals are important, and they add meaning to life. Without them, we have nothing to attain to and nothing to reach for. Without setting and meeting goals our lives would soon become a boring and tedious cycle of laundry, work and activities to fill the void that having no goals has left in our lives.
There are people out there who would be able to tell you their goals at the drop of a hat. They have written them down, charted their progress and are well on their way to success – and they know it! Then there are people who would have to think about it for a few minutes when asked about their goals in life. They have goals, but they haven’t really given much thought as to how to meet them or when they would like to see them realized. Both kinds of people will eventually meet their goals, but perhaps the people who track their progress are better able to stay on track and they may even reach their goals sooner than those who don’t really give it much thought.
Almost everyone who has ever thought about their goals or set specific goals for themselves has made the same classic mistake: setting their sights too high. We all have set unrealistic goals for ourselves, and sometimes our aspirations are just too high. By this, I don’t mean that you shouldn’t set your sights on the stars, but I mean that you shouldn’t fool yourself into thinking that you can do it all right away. Many of us tend to think about our aspirations as all or nothing, and this type of thinking will only lead to failure.
When it comes to setting goals, you should really write them down somewhere and keep them handy for when you are having a rough day or have suffered a setback. This way you can remind yourself of why you set these goals in the first place, and be encouraged that your dreams are reachable. How do you create reachable goals? This is achieved by breaking down the big ones into small, attainable goals. Make a time line of when you would like to have reached the full goal, and then break your goal down into a few “subgoals” and mark these down on the time line. Make sure you give yourself enough time to attain these goals, and room to add more if needed.
You can also give yourself an incentive program for goals reached throughout the time line. Add these incentives to your time line so that you can see what you are working towards. Some incentives could include a new outfit, a day with a good friend, a new book or even just some time to yourself, to relax.