How to Set New Goals

Goals and dreams aren't trivial. They reveal where hidden gifts, passion and vitality lie. Whether it's to skate in the Olympics, sing in a choir, remodel your bathroom or do stand-up comedy, when your goals are clearly stated, they are much more likely to be achieved.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Dream a little: What do you want to do, see, accomplish and experience? Look at a wide range of areas while you're mulling over your life and your values, including your career, the arts, physical achievements, finances, education and public service.
2. Ponder more personal goals: How do you want to feel? Do you want to have a family? Create a stronger one? How would you want those who love you most to describe you and the life you live? Would you like to change your mind-set or how you relate to people? Improve a core relationship? Be truthful.
3. Review and re-prioritize your goals until they reflect the life you want to live.
4. Set your lifetime goals. Then establish goals for 10 years from now, five years, one year--and then one month. Now prioritize them (review 2 Set Priorities).
5. Break each goal into subtasks that need to be completed. For example, if a financial goal is to be debt-free in two years (see 227 Get Out of Debt), you might decide to set up a budget (228 Design a Savings Plan), spend less than you make (15 Live With Less) and refinance your mortgage to lower your monthly payment. Set a time frame and priority for each subtask.
6. Use your daily to-do list (see 3 Write an Effective To-Do List) as a means to reach even your lifetime goals. Now that you've divided your goals into achievable tasks, incorporate those tasks into your list and pick them off, one at a time.
7. Review and re-prioritize your goals regularly and when you suffer inevitable setbacks. You may find that they change over time, or that certain objectives get put on hold while you work on others.
8. Bear in mind that your goals may affect your loved ones. You might do this work together. If you have kids, bring them into the loop and fully consider their opinions. If an objective is to spend more time together as a family, and one solution is for you to work only part-time, ask family members what material goods they'd be willing to give up to get more time with you. You might be surprised. (See 14 Balance Home and Work.)
9. Commit to carrying out your plan of action. You've already gone further than most. Stay focused on the process and reward yourself-- or at least notice--when something you've always wanted is actually attained.

Tips & Warnings

• In addition to not setting goals unrealistically high, be careful not to set goals too low. Aim for attainable goals that are just out of reach. When you accomplish one goal, you'll have the momentum to move on to the next.
• Use rewards not only as a prize for achievement but also as an encouragement to continue on the road to your ultimate goal.
• When you write down your goals, pay attention to your language. Replace "I should" and "I'll try" with "I will."
• If you find you are having trouble meeting a particular goal, look deeper into the causes for this. Learn from the experience and either reprioritize the goal or move on to something else.
• Beware of setting goals for yourself that are actually a veil for someone else's desires for you--your parents, your boss or your significant other.