Some people have known for awhile now what they really want, but just haven’t pursued it, and for them, it just takes a little contemplation to realize what they’ve wanted all along. Others will have a more difficult time, as they have never figured out what their dream is, or what they’d like to accomplish. For them, I’d make a few suggestions:
1. Take some time for quiet contemplation.
2. Think about what’s important to you.
3. Think about what you’d like people to say about you when you die.(no hard feelings).
4. Brainstorm — make a list of all the things you’d like to do in life, things that sound fun and exciting and wonderful, and then choose the best of the list.
5. You don’t have to come up with your life goals right now. You could just think of something you’d like to achieve over the next 6 months to a year, and continue to explore different things until you find your dream.
1. Take some time for quiet contemplation.
2. Think about what’s important to you.
3. Think about what you’d like people to say about you when you die.(no hard feelings).
4. Brainstorm — make a list of all the things you’d like to do in life, things that sound fun and exciting and wonderful, and then choose the best of the list.
5. You don’t have to come up with your life goals right now. You could just think of something you’d like to achieve over the next 6 months to a year, and continue to explore different things until you find your dream.
The next question is how to get there. A great method that I’ve seen numerous times, most recently by Mark Joyner in his Simple*ology system, is called backward planning, a method used by the military.
Basically, here’s how it works:
• Have a clearly defined goal with a clearly defined outcome, you should be able to visualize what it looks like when you’ve accomplished the outcome.
• What is the last thing you’ll need to do to achieve that outcome? If your goal is to wax an album, for example, the last thing you’ll need to do (before it goes on air, is the promo copy graphics design, printing, publicity, etc.) is mastering and sequencing the song for audible listening.
• What is the thing you’ll need to do just before that step? In the above example, you might want to get an outside Label to review your songs and give your criticisms and suggestions and edits.
• What is the thing you’ll need to do before that step? In the example, you’d need to do a revised draft of the song to submit to your record label.
If you follow this plan, you’ll have a step-by-step guide to achieving your goal. Now you just need a way to track your goals and achieve them.
• Have a clearly defined goal with a clearly defined outcome, you should be able to visualize what it looks like when you’ve accomplished the outcome.
• What is the last thing you’ll need to do to achieve that outcome? If your goal is to wax an album, for example, the last thing you’ll need to do (before it goes on air, is the promo copy graphics design, printing, publicity, etc.) is mastering and sequencing the song for audible listening.
• What is the thing you’ll need to do just before that step? In the above example, you might want to get an outside Label to review your songs and give your criticisms and suggestions and edits.
• What is the thing you’ll need to do before that step? In the example, you’d need to do a revised draft of the song to submit to your record label.
If you follow this plan, you’ll have a step-by-step guide to achieving your goal. Now you just need a way to track your goals and achieve them.
How to track and achieve your goals – a simple method
It would take a well-planned form or software to track a bunch of goals, broken down by periods of your life (1 year, 5 years, 10 years, etc).
It would take a well-planned form or software to track a bunch of goals, broken down by periods of your life (1 year, 5 years, 10 years, etc).
That can be very complicated, as I’ve discovered myself.
So how can you simplify this? Of your life goals, choose one to accomplish within the next 12 months. If none of them can be accomplished in 12 months, choose a sub-goal of one of your life goals to accomplish in 12 months. And only choose ONE goal. Here’s an example:
Life goal: build my dream house
1 year goal: save N500,000 towards a down payment for my dream house
Once you’ve chosen your 1 year goal (and remember, only choose one — not one for each area of your life, but just one), then choose a medium-term goal that you can accomplish in 3-6 months. It should be a big chunk of your 1 year goal. For example:
medium-term goal: save N250,000 in 6 months
Then choose a short-term goal you can accomplish in 1-2 weeks. For example:
short-term goal: set up automatic deductions from my paycheck to go straight to savings — amount: N20,000 per paycheck.
The reason you should only focus on one goal at a time is that it’s hard to track a whole bunch of goals, and it’s hard to maintain focus on more than one goal at a time. If you just have to accomplish one thing this week, you can really put your energy into making it happen. But if you need to do 3-5 things in the next two weeks, it’s much more likely that you won’t do any of them.
So, focus on your short-term goal (1-2 weeks) and then when you complete it, choose the next short-term goal to get you to your medium-term goal. Once the medium-term goal is accomplished, choose a new medium-term goal to get you to your long-term goal (1 year). Once your long-term goal is accomplished, set your sights on a new long-term goal. Keep this up, and you’ll achieve a lot.
Here’s another example:
1 year goal: Quit my job and work from home
medium-term goal: start an online business that will bring me income
short-term goal: brainstorm and research ideas for online business
I’ve found that this simplified system does a lot to helping me stay focused. It’s also hard to only choose one goal, as we always want to do 10 goals, but I think it’s worth it to decide what’s most important.
Write down three things: your 1-year goal, your medium-term goal, and your short-term goal. When you accomplish the short-term goal, just cross it off and write a new one. It doesn’t require any fancy software or planning system.
The key is to maintain focus on your one goal, and to put all your energy into achieving it. Don’t forget it, don’t be distracted from it. Let it be the point on the horizon that you continually keep in sight, moving around obstacles but constantly heading towards that point. Maintain your focus, and you’ll achieve it.
What are your thoughts on this? Have a simple method for achieving and tracking your life goals? Let us know in the comments.
So how can you simplify this? Of your life goals, choose one to accomplish within the next 12 months. If none of them can be accomplished in 12 months, choose a sub-goal of one of your life goals to accomplish in 12 months. And only choose ONE goal. Here’s an example:
Life goal: build my dream house
1 year goal: save N500,000 towards a down payment for my dream house
Once you’ve chosen your 1 year goal (and remember, only choose one — not one for each area of your life, but just one), then choose a medium-term goal that you can accomplish in 3-6 months. It should be a big chunk of your 1 year goal. For example:
medium-term goal: save N250,000 in 6 months
Then choose a short-term goal you can accomplish in 1-2 weeks. For example:
short-term goal: set up automatic deductions from my paycheck to go straight to savings — amount: N20,000 per paycheck.
The reason you should only focus on one goal at a time is that it’s hard to track a whole bunch of goals, and it’s hard to maintain focus on more than one goal at a time. If you just have to accomplish one thing this week, you can really put your energy into making it happen. But if you need to do 3-5 things in the next two weeks, it’s much more likely that you won’t do any of them.
So, focus on your short-term goal (1-2 weeks) and then when you complete it, choose the next short-term goal to get you to your medium-term goal. Once the medium-term goal is accomplished, choose a new medium-term goal to get you to your long-term goal (1 year). Once your long-term goal is accomplished, set your sights on a new long-term goal. Keep this up, and you’ll achieve a lot.
Here’s another example:
1 year goal: Quit my job and work from home
medium-term goal: start an online business that will bring me income
short-term goal: brainstorm and research ideas for online business
I’ve found that this simplified system does a lot to helping me stay focused. It’s also hard to only choose one goal, as we always want to do 10 goals, but I think it’s worth it to decide what’s most important.
Write down three things: your 1-year goal, your medium-term goal, and your short-term goal. When you accomplish the short-term goal, just cross it off and write a new one. It doesn’t require any fancy software or planning system.
The key is to maintain focus on your one goal, and to put all your energy into achieving it. Don’t forget it, don’t be distracted from it. Let it be the point on the horizon that you continually keep in sight, moving around obstacles but constantly heading towards that point. Maintain your focus, and you’ll achieve it.
What are your thoughts on this? Have a simple method for achieving and tracking your life goals? Let us know in the comments.
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