What Are Goals?
To kick off our goal setting tips guide, you need to first recognize what goals are and how they are different from objectives, dreams, and expectations.
A goal is essentially your aim for the long-term future. It is the bigger umbrella, the main focus.
Objectives, on the other hand, fall under the umbrella of goals. They are the stepping stones that help you achieve your goals[1].
or example, you may decide you want to learn a new language. Your goal is to be fluent in the new language. Everything you do to achieve this goal, such as the daily tasks and monthly learning aims, are the objectives.
Similarly, your expectations, visions, and dreams are not your goals. If you wish to learn a new language someday, that is your dream. If you see yourself fluently speaking multiple foreign languages, that is your vision. If you think you’re capable of learning a new language, that is your expectation.
However, if you aim to fulfill these visions, dreams, and expectations practically, that is your goal.
Why Is Goal Setting Important?
Why should you bother with goal setting at all? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to just get on with your daily objectives, follow a dream or vision, and let life take you wherever?
While that road can feel exciting and spontaneous, if you actually want to tick off things from your list of goals to achieve, learning how to set goals is necessary.
Being committed to a goal puts your brain to work in one specific direction. Believe it or not, by having a defined goal, your brain does its magic unconsciously, 24/7, with full efficiency, to achieve the desired results[2].
Goal setting is important to shift your focus, boost your motivation, and give you a sense of direction. Without formally defining a particular aim that you want to reach, you won’t be able to keep your objectives in line.
Hence, this one tiny step can end up saving you a lot of hassle and time while also encouraging your productivity.
Types of Goals
Before we move onto the technique of setting effective goals, we need to first take a look at all types of goals in this goal setting tips guide.
These categories will not just help you brainstorm new one for yourself, but it will also guide you to list them down in the right way.
Time-Based
One of the two broad categories of goals is based on time. These goals define how far in the future you want to achieve them.
Daily
There are certain smaller goals that you can easily achieve in a day or two. In fact, some of these daily goals can be recurring, too. For example, you may want to run for an hour every morning.
Now, these daily goals can also serve as objectives for a long-term goal. You may be running every day because, in the long-term, you want to increase your stamina.
Daily goals are highly effective for people who want to improve their mental wellbeing, time management skills, and stress management.
Short-Term
Next in line are short-term goals. As you would have already guessed, goal setting in this area is aimed at the near future.
The great thing about these is that they are generally easier to achieve. This is because short-term goals are set for the foreseeable future. You are aware of the circumstances and have a general idea of how much the situation can change.
Just like daily goals, short-term goals may also serve as objectives for a long-term goal. Your short-term goal may be to lose 5 pounds in one month. That could be a goal in itself, or maybe it is just one objective to fulfill your goal to adopt a healthy lifestyle in the next two years.
Another example of a short-term goal is to fulfill the checklist for promotion within the next 6 months. Or, you may want to reduce your screen time within the coming week.
Long-Term
Lastly, we have long-term goals that are meant to be completed over a stretched period.
Whatever you want to achieve in a later stage of life is a long-term goal. An insurance plan, for example, is a long-term goal.
Some long-term goals don’t have any time frame at all. They are goals that you want to accomplish at some point in your life. So, something like traveling the whole world is a lifelong goal with no specific time constraint at all.
There’s one thing about long-term goals that isn’t great.
They are the hardest to keep up with since you’re not seeing any huge achievements regularly. This may take a toll on your motivation. To tOriginalackle this problem, it is best to divide a long-term goal into various, short-term and daily objectives so that you’re always tracking the progress you’re making.
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