Short & Long Term Goal Setting

Once you get into the habit of goal setting, you will probably start setting yourself more and more goals.

Whilst this is certainly a good thing, the downside is that you may have so many goals that you don’t know which one you should start working on.

For this reason it is important to prioritise the goals you set, so that you can complete the goals which will have the most beneficial impact on your life.

Prioritisation & Goal Setting

To begin prioritising goals you first need to decide which areas of your life are most important to you right now.

For example, is your family the most important thing to you, is it your career or is it your social life?

Whatever is most important to you should be the area that you focus your goal setting efforts on first.

Setting goals in areas of your life that are not important to you, will eventually lead to a lack of motivation because the results you obtain will not add any real value to your life.

To prioritise your goals simply write down all the goals you wish to accomplish, and then organise those into specific categories. Here are some suggestions:

• Family goals

• Romantic goals

• Financial goals

• Business goals

• Social goals

• Personal development goals

Short & Long Term Goal Setting

Once you have organised your goals into categories, the next step in the goal setting process is to organise each category.

This is best done by sorting short term goals from long term goals.

What Are Short Term Goals?

Short term goals are those you want to complete immediately. Such as within a few weeks, or months.

What Are Long Term Goals?

Long term goals are those which will take from 6 months-to years to complete.

Short & Long Term Goals Complement Each Other

The reason it is important to separate short and long term goals, is because the completion of short term goals will give you the momentum and motivation to accomplish your long term goals.

For example, if you set a goal to loose x amount of weight in one year, this would be a long term goal. If you set yourself a goal to loose x amount of weight each month, then this would be a short term goal.

You are far more likely to complete your long term goal, if you notice that each month you are making progress by completing your short term goals.

Notice how this process of goal setting uses goals that complement each other.

Whilst your ultimate long term goal is to loose a set amount of weight in one year, the completion of your monthly short term goals will eventually lead to the completion of your long term goal.

Tasks & Goal Setting

One common point of confusion people have about goal setting is in the difference between a goal and a task.

What Is A Goal?

A goal is an objective you are working towards. It is something you want to achieve, have or do. The process of goal setting ultimately allows you to accomplish this.

What Is A Task?

A task on the other had is something you must do in order to complete your goal. In this sense, tasks can be seen as sub-goals.

For example, you set yourself a goal to earn x amount of money. Now in order to earn that money, there will be certain tasks you will need to do to achieve your goal.

Tasks are therefore the things you would do on a daily or weekly basis. They are the frequent one time activities that must be done if you are to complete your goal.

Prioritising Tasks

Like goals, it is important to prioritise tasks, so that you complete the most important tasks first.

This can be done simply by writing down everything you need to do at night for the following day, and then numbering each task item in order of importance.

You could use a numbering system if you only have a few tasks, such as 1,2,3,4,5 etc…, or an alpha numeric system if you have lots of tasks, such as 1A,1B,1C, 2A,2B,2C etc…

Overview Of The Goal Setting Process

Here is a quick overview of structure you should be aiming for when setting goals.

• Long term goal setting

• Short term goal setting

• Tasks

Each level in this structure complements the one above it, whilst also keeping you occupied and motivated.