Setting goals can help you move forward in life, especially when those goals are revised regularly. What are you learning? Why are you learning? Do you have a learning goal?

How often in life have you started off a new project only to lose steam part-way through? High achievers are often goal-oriented. They work out what they want to do with their life, then strive towards that long-term goal. They also set intermediate goals along the way.

Types of Goals

Goals can take many different forms. Your goal may be to land a better job. It may be to increase knowledge or improve time management skills. It may even be to improve your mood, so an intermediate goal could be to complete the A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment course.

Rewarding ourselves after reaching goals can be a helpful motivator.

SMART Goals

What is the best strategy for setting goals? Many people use SMART goals.

There is some difference of opinion about exactly how to define SMART goals. I prefer Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely.

Specific goals are effective because we work better when we can visualize a result. How can we assess our progress if we haven’t set a specific goal? Rather than saying, “I’m going to learn something online,” find a course and tell yourself you will study this particular course. Or, rather than “I want to get a better job,” investigate exactly what job you want to do and make that your goal.

Measurable goals are those that you can quantify, such as “I am going to complete five courses this year.”

Actionable goals those that you can actually work towards. Make a list of the actions you can take to attain your goals.

Realistic goals. You wouldn’t try to run a marathon without training first, would you? Put some thought into what goals you can actually achieve.

Timely goals. Again, you wouldn’t try to run a marathon with inadequate preparation time. By actually sitting down with a calendar and your list of SMART goals to work out a timetable and strategy, you are giving yourself a realistic chance of achieving your goals.

Speed Bumps

So, you have planned and written down your goals. What happens, though, if your computer breaks or you come down with a stomach bug? Your beautiful timetable has gone off the rails.

Instead of throwing your hands in the air and saying “I give up!” a more constructive approach would be to grab that calendar again and do some revision of the goal dates. Try setting some smaller intermediate goals. Take a look at the big picture again. Why have you set these goals? Is that ultimate goal still a high priority?

It is important not to take the easy way out by simply pushing goals back and back if we don’t achieve them at the first or second attempt. We may need to analyse why we haven’t attained the goal and then work out a strategy to make it happen. Sometimes just having those smaller intermediate goals can do the trick.

Often, even though our intermediate goals may shift, our long-term goals may stay the same for a few years until we achieve them.

Revise, Revise, Revise

In Coursera’s Creativity, Innovation and Change, students are taught how to draw up a Life Map featuring our Driving Force, our Wildly Important Goal and lesser goals in five to seven key categories such as family, career and health. Set short-term goals and strategies in each category for the next three to twelve months. Revisit the Life Map quarterly to delete attained goals and put in some new short-term goals. Find more details about how to create your own effective Life Map by taking the course.

If any goals seem too hard to achieve, analyse whether or not they are still worthwhile. Scrap any that are not and create new goals. If they are worthwhile, break them down and crush those intermediate goals.

Perseverance

Sometimes we need to just plug away every day. We may need to give up something else to make sure we will achieve a more important goal. Turn the work you need to do into a privilege, not a chore. To paraphrase language teacher John Fotheringham, instead of saying “I have to study today, try turning it around and say “I get to study today.”

A Final Thought

Set goals occasionally, revise them regularly, and work towards them constantly.

By Pat Bowden, published March 20, 2018.