To develop a life goal, you must be introspective and think about your successes, as well as your failures in life. Everyone has some area of life they would like to improve upon; it’s human nature. Setting SMART goals involves choosing ones that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive. You may have many areas you’d like to work on, but you should choose one or two as you get started. Prioritizing will be part of your success, since you want your ambitions to be achievable. Realizing your ambitions is another story that requires a positive attitude and continuous motivation. Here are some exercises to help you get started.
To identify your life goal right now, write up a list of the different areas in your life — health, relationships, finances, career, hobbies and personality traits. On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with each area? Try to jot down five targets for each area. For instance, in health you may want to lose 10 pounds, take a new fitness class, visit the gym 3 days/week, limit your intake of sweets and lower your cholesterol. For relationships, you may want to stop being so shy at bars, go on at least three different dates this year, look for someone with a similar background, learn to stop being codependent, and start dating someone steadily by the end of the year. In finance, perhaps you want to save $5,000 as a cushion, pay off your $3,000 credit card bill, pay off your student loan, get a raise at your job and save $10,000 for a house down payment.
Once you have everything written down, one predominant life goal will likely emerge. Have you put career first and let your health languish? Or have you been so preoccupied with your relationship that you lost sight of your career goal of running your own business? Look at some of your long term goals and list the short term goals you must accomplish to get there. Then determine an appropriate timeline in which to meet your objectives. For instance, your long term goal might be to run a five-minute mile. First, you must set up a training schedule of 5 days/week. Then, you must try to run a mile without stopping. Then you can try to shave off a minute here and there to reduce your time from 10 minutes down to five. You can try training with weights to feel lighter or change your diet slightly to include more protein and energy-boosting foods. Whatever your plan of attack may be, looking at manageable, written goals will help you accomplish them.
An important part of achieving your life goal is staying motivated. Once you mark down your long and short term objective, you will want to write a list of reasons why you want to make this change. Later, when you feel your motivation waning, you can look at your list of reasons and remind yourself why you must keep working toward your personal goal setting task. Think about why the change is needed and what would happen if you did not change. Think about how much your life will improve once the change has been made and you’ve reached your goal. Keep these lists handy for whenever you need them. It’s also important that you’re honest with yourself and keep a positive frame of mind.