Setting Life Goals the SMART Way

Setting life goals is exciting and rewarding. You can get a lot of benefits if you know how to set goals for yourself. You can achieve your goals easily and successfully as long as you took action. Goals in life can give you a good direction on how to live your life everyday and how to spend your time everyday. A goal must not be ignored. If the things you are doing right now is not related to your goal, STOP!

What is a personal goal? A personal goal is the thing or anything you want to accomplish for yourself. Anything that can give yourself satisfaction when achieving or accomplishing, those are called personal goals.

Have you ever watch the soccer players? Are they keep on running toward the goal or keep on running and kicking the soccer ball just to make their selves feel tired? The keep on running and kicking the ball toward the soccer bal. Yes, they are tired, but, they don’t stop until they score. Their goal is to win but the first thing the soccer player will do is to make the ball very near in their goal. You got the moral lesson?

When achieving life goals, you will get hurt, get tired and feel uncomfortable. but, when you achieve your goal, you will forget everything (sufferings, sacrifices). All you know is that you are Happy today because you accomplished or achieved an important thing in your life. Have a winning attitude like a soccer player.

There are many good goals to set for yourself. You can think for long term and short term goals. Short term goals are those required short period of time. Say for example (a month, or a year or a three-year goal). Here are the examples of personal short term goals;

• passed the board exam this year
• lose 7 lbs this year
• save $5,000 this year, example of financial goal.
• buy a used car after three months
• increase my income next year

Long term goals are those which required long period of time. Say for example, comfortable retirement. Planning for retirement is a long process. It includes saving and investing for a very long period of time to acquired retirement target earning assets. Here are the examples of personal long term goals;

• To settle and have my own family after 25 years
• I will retire rich at age 55
• I own a successful company in 15 years (good example of business goal)

Now you know what is a personal goal and what is the difference between personal long term goals and the short term ones.

The best thing you can do today is to set goals for yourself. When setting life goals, you need to identify your future needs. You need to be futuristic. If you are futuristic, it will become easy for you to set long term goals.

Related: 3 Questions to Ask When Setting Financial Goals

Image Credit: Ludovic Péron via Flickr CC 2.0

Play like Cristiano Ronaldo. Live your life with passion and enthusiasm. Be SMART enough and do not forget to always do your best.

Setting Life Goals the SMART Way

When setting new goals is bad? Setting new goals is bad if your previous goal didn’t already achieve. When setting life goals, you should create first your short term goals and make sure your short term goals has something to do with your long term ones.

Maybe you will ask me; “what are the good goals to set for yourself”? Good goals to set for yourself can be related to your health, finances, family, career, jobs or anything that you want to achieve someday that can make you a better you and a happy person.

Setting life goals the SMART way, simply means your goals (might it be short term or long term goals) should be

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

Setting Life Goals Specifically

You should be specific when setting goals in life. If you know what you want, you can be specific. Specify the amount of money you want to have during your retirement. What amount? $1,000,000 (one million dollars)?

Related: How to Set Financial Goals for Retirement?

Setting Attainable Life Goals

Some goals are easy to achieve and some are hard to get. What does it mean by “attainable goals?”. Any goals that considered as ‘achievable” are called attainable goals.

Setting Life Goals Realistically

What are Realistic Goals?

When setting life goals, make sure they are “realistic”. You can never become sexy in three seconds or become wealthy overnight. You can’t have your own business unless you take action. You can’t become a superhero like Superman or Batman, you can, but in your dreams when you fall asleep.

As a closing part of this article, make sure when setting life goals, you must be specific. Think about measurable and attainable goals. Do not forget that your personal life goals must be realistic. Also, always remember that setting goals without actions can only take you nowhere. Share this page with your friends.