If you\’ve been to school, lived through a New Year\’s celebration or talked with your friends around the new year you know what a goal is. Goals refer to a method of scoring. In the sports arena this means keeping track of who wins and who loses. They can also mean the finish place or something that the designated as the end. In business and personal life a goal is an idea which an individual wishes to be the end result. It is, in other words, a means of scoring your life.
Most people see goals as important criteria to achieving the end result, especially in career planning and financial planning. At the beginning of every year most people also set other types of goals such as personal, relational or spiritual but all too often those goals fall by the wayside.
Self-development professionals and psychologists define goals in different ways. Many times they are defined as realistic and achievable steps you put into place in order to get something you want. Too many times people are encouraged not to grow big goals (they are called pipe dreams) and instead are encouraged to set goals which they currently see as achievable.
This is unfortunate since it limits an individual to achieving something they could have probably otherwise achieved without setting goals. If your goal is to have $5 million in the bank by the time you retire and you are $30,000 in debt at the moment, is that a pipe dream? It just might be if you are unwilling to take the actions required in order to achieve that $5 million. However, if you set about achieving your goal understanding the laws of cause and effect, attraction and the law of prosperity as well as being willing to take actions outside of your current comfort zone, you may come closer to achieving that goal at retirement than friends and relatives believe.
Setting goals and achieving them is actually a method that you work towards receiving things in your life. It\’s a glorified method of planning that goes beyond planning for the next 24 hours.
For instance, think about going on vacation. You plan for the vacation, you make hotel reservations and possibly plane reservations. You\’ve saved up to pay for the vacation and you purchase clothing that is appropriate for the geographical area you\’re visiting. All of this is planning set in motion to achieve the goal of the vacation.
Goal setting is a map that shows you how to get what you want, in the time setting which you want it. In other words your goals are a roadmap but in order to achieve them you must travel the route that is outlined. You must take action!
Many times you hear the terms goals and objectives in the same sentence. There is an entire philosophical and educational process which defines goals and objectives, differentiates between the two, and helps people to create their own. But in reality it is important to take that first step to define the things that you want to achieve. Understanding the differences between goals and objectives and being able to create them correctly will not help you write your own or achieve them.
Goals come in all shapes and sizes. There are long-range goals that incorporate all the information you have in your life and set a result which you hope to achieve in greater than one year. There are short-term goals that are stepping stones needed to help you prepare to achieve your long-term goal. Objectives are the practical steps you need, or the action steps required to achieve both short and long term goals. There are even short-term, intermediate and long-term objectives you can set into motion in order to help you achieve your short-term goals which lead to your long-term goals.
Can you see how confusing this might get? Instead, it is significantly important for you to learn how to set goals in the affirmative so that you can see yourself achieving these goals. Your next step is to learn how to put in place an action plan that will lead you towards your end result.
RESOURCES
Arizona State University: Steps to Successful Career Planning
Top Achievement: Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Lehigh University: Setting Goals