Malika Kapoor

How to set life goals

Why is setting life goals important?

Setting a goal is like designing and giving a purpose to your life. A life without purpose is like a road without a destination. You go with the flow, have no motivation, no place to reach, and most importantly no reason to get out of the bed every morning.

Setting goals motivate you to move forward and make a difference. And also keep you on track.

For example: if you want to reach a particular location. Your car GPS guides you to reach that destination. Setting goals act as GPS to the lifestyle you always wanted.

People who set goals and work on accomplishing their goals are far happier and more successful than the ones who don’t.

 

How to set and achieve your goals?

  • Question yourself what you actually want and why?

Your goals should align with your core values. If your values are different from the goal, you wouldn’t be able to achieve that goal. And answering why will give you the reason/ motivation to set a goal and achieve it.

 

  • Your goals should be a combination of D.U.M.B and S.M.A.R.T Goals
  1. D.U.M.B Goals – Dream big. Uplifting. Method friendly. Behavior triggered
  2. S.M.A.R.T Goals – Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Timely

Dumb goals are the goals that are huge goals that may sound difficult to achieve but are motivating. Smart goals are the goals that are specific, measurable, relevant to your lifestyle, have a time slot, and are attainable but sometimes they aren’t exciting. Hence a combination of both keeps you motivated and when you actually achieve a goal, you get a sense of success.

 

  • Enjoy the process

When you enjoy doing a task, that task doesn’t feel like a task anymore and you complete it in no time. If you don’t enjoy what you do, you wouldn’t be able to continue working towards that particular goal and eventually you fail to achieve it.

Hence find an approach that will help you to achieve your goal as well as you can enjoy the journey.

 

  • Find ways to keep yourself motivated

There is a huge difference in the level of motivation from the day we start and after a few weeks. And by losing motivation we end up giving up on our goals. Hence finding ways to keep us motivated keeps us on track. Here are a few things you can do to remain motivated:

  1. Write down your goals and stick it somewhere you can see daily, this will keep you on track.
  2. Find a friend who is on the same journey as you, this will give you the feeling that you aren’t alone.
  3. Tell your family and friends about your goal and they will keep you accountable.
  4. Note down your process and review your goals, seeing the progress will motivate you.
  5. Focus on lifestyle over materialistic things, when we finally buy that thing, we always wanted we lose interest eventually while targeting the lifestyle, how it will change your life, keeps you going.

 

  • Divide your goals into time slots

We all have a long list of things/ goals we want to achieve and seeing such a long list can be overwhelming and we may get confused thinking from where to start. The easiest way is to divide your goals into slots and achieve them one by one.

Example your goal is to start a successful multinational business with a minimum of 50 million dollars turnover/year, here is how you will divide your goal into slots:

 

  1. Lifetime Goal

What’s the one thing you want to achieve in your lifetime?

Example: Your lifetime goal is that your multinational business should make 50 million dollars turn over every year.

 

  1. 5-year Goal

Based on your lifetime goal what’s the one thing you want to achieve in the next five years?

Example: Take your business online and connect with foreign clients.

 

  1. 1-year Goal

Based on your 5-year goal what’s the one thing you can do in the next 1 year?

Example: Expand your business by hiring more people who are eligible for the job.

 

  1. Monthly Goal

Based on a 1-year goal, what’s the one thing you may want to achieve this month?

Example: Attend exhibitions and other events and connect to your ideal clients from the country you are based in.

 

  1. Weekly Goal

Based on your monthly goal, what’s the one thing can you do in a week?

Example: Make profitable sales.

 

  1. Daily Goal

Based on your weekly goal, what’s the one thing you can do today?

Example: Check on the quality of the products or services your business provides.

 

  • Categorize your goal

For overall development and not just professionally, one should categorize the different areas of life. Here are the few categories a person should set a goal in:

  1. Family and Friends
  2. Finance
  3. Profession
  4. Health and Fitness
  5. Lifestyle
  6. Relationship/Marriage
  7. Travel
  8. Personal Development
  9. Giving back to society
  10. Passion

We recommend you to make a list of 100 life goals and divide them into these above categories. You may add more or delete a category according to your preference.

 

Your goal shouldn’t take over your life, make sure you maintain a healthy balance. You may change or add a new goal in your goals list anytime you want if needed. If a particular goal is achieved you may want to replace it with a new one or a particular goal is a life-time goal and that goal isn’t something that aligns with your present values anymore, you must change it. But make sure the reason for changing goals is the change of core values and not laziness or procrastination.

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1 thought on “How to set life goals”

  1. Amazing the best I got in this blog is:
    Your goals should be a combination of D.U.M.B and S.M.A.R.T Goals
    – D.U.M.B Goals – Dream big. Uplifting. Method friendly. Behavior triggered
    – S.M.A.R.T Goals – Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Timely

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