Have you ever stopped to think about your life goals?
Life goals are the things you’d like to achieve in order to be satisfied with your future and who you become. Your personal goals could range from better relationships, to starting a business, to traveling the world.
Some goals are specific; others are flexible and open to interpretation.
However, without at least one goal to progress towards, you won’t experience much personal development.
Luckily for you, this article is all about how to set life goals that will set you up for a life of success.
What Are The 3 Types Of Goals?
There are 3 different types of goals:
- Time Goals – Goals that are oriented to a specific schedule or deliverable.
- Focus Goals – Goals that help keep you on track toward a larger, ultimate goal.
- Topic-based Goals – Goals rooted in a specific arena of your life (personal, professional, artistic, etc).
What are the 5 SMART goals?
SMART is an acronym for a business goal that is:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-based
This is one of the most popular goal formats used by CEOs and entrepreneurs around the world to make a plan go into fast action.
How The Goals You Set Affect Your Future
If you’re not sure what life goals you should set and feel overwhelmed by your prospects, fret no longer!
We’re going to offer up a number of ways you can learn to set positive goals for your future.
The key is to take action to change your circumstances. Begin designing powerful goals to set your aspirations in motion.
All successful people meet their goals by figuring out what they want, creating their vision, and committing to their goals. They break their goals down into smaller sub-goals, and make a step-by-step plan for each one. Then, they let nothing stand between them and the life they envision.
Your goals can help you take things to the next level in any area of life. In fact, goals are proven to make you happier.
So, are you ready to start setting some kick-butt personal goals?
What Are Some Personal Goals In Life?
Let’s learn how to recognize, sculpt, and achieve your personal goals.
1. Find what you love doing
Most people work a job they don’t like.
They invest all their energy into doing the same thing 5 days a week. They feel like they haven’t really done anything better with their time. In fact, this is one of the biggest regrets of those who never pursued ‘something more.’
At the end of your life, you may look back and notice many things you secretly wanted to do, but never did. You may even realize that you never asked for what you desired, never enjoyed a day at work, and never fully did your best.
And that’s a pretty sad way to end this exciting journey we’re here for. Luckily, it’s never too late to find your true calling and turn it into something more.
If you currently have a hobby that you are incredibly passionate about, then you’re already halfway there.
Invest time into this hobby as often as possible; master it and start sharing your experience and insights with the world. You can write a blog about it, make videos to show people how to do the same, or even start a new business.
You won’t be doing it for the money, you’ll be doing it because it’s what you love and can do forever without getting bored.
If you still haven’t found a passion, though, the first of your life goals should be finding one.
Look carefully everywhere around you. Go back to your childhood. Be honest about what you enjoy and what you don’t.
Your calling is somewhere close. Listen to your instincts and you’ll find it.
2. Start taking care of yourself
2. Start taking care of yourselfMost people never think about self-care. Even if they do have some healthy habits and are purpose-oriented, they neglect their mental and spiritual health. Physical health means nothing without these two.
So, let this be one of the personal goals you set: to finally make more time for yourself. Take it easy. Stop judging, blaming, or expecting too much from yourself.
Start saying ‘no’ when you don’t want to do something. And say ‘yes’ to the desires deep within that you’ve been hiding for so long.
Self-care is a way of life. It can begin by writing a journal and experiencing all the health benefits it brings, or meditating in the evening to empty your mind before bed.
It can be daily walks in the park to breathe some fresh air and generate ideas for the next steps you should take in life, or removing some toxic people from your life that make you feel bad about yourself.
Forgive yourself, it’s both a spiritual and liberating practice. Let go of the mistakes from the past and know that they don’t shape your future.
All this will make you stronger and you’ll take action to do better in life.
3. Contribute beyond yourself
Another one of the examples of life goals worth setting is about giving, because it’s true that the more you give, the more you get in return.
The sad truth is, most of us live pretty egoistically: we make ourselves feel good and do what makes our life comfortable, but that also means putting the happiness of those we love aside, and never considering helping those around us in any way we can.
Giving doesn’t need to mean donating money or even joining an organization. It’s about leaving behind your own wants and needs to see if you can be of help to others.
Also, it’s proven to make us way more satisfied with our lives, rather than when we’re just focusing on ourselves.
Here are some examples of ways you can begin contributing to the world at large:
- When socializing, listen more and respond as genuinely as possible
- Encourage others to try again after failure, be their biggest supporter, and remind them of the potential within
- Love without expecting to receive the same in return
- Share what you have when you can
- Donate things that you aren’t really using
- Be kind to everyone you meet
- Seek opportunities to do good things to others, whether it’s helping an old woman cross the street, giving a dollar to a homeless person, not judging when somebody is sharing their opinion
4. Enjoying life more
Out of all of the ideal goals to set, this is perhaps the most important one.
As general as it may sound, you can personalize this idea and start enjoying your life more by defining for yourself what that means. If done right, you may realize you want a great family life and everything else is much less important.
So, if you dedicate yourself to being a great partner and parent, you’ll be waking up feeling blessed every single day.
Now, let’s say you have career-related goals. If this is the case, you can challenge yourself by taking up more responsibility at work, networking, taking an exciting opportunity, mastering your craft, and building new skills.
5. Leaving your comfort zone
Life becomes pretty boring and lacks fulfillment if you stay in one place, both physically and mentally.
Traveling is one way to get out of the rut and explore more of what’s out there. By traveling, you put yourself in a new environment and see how you react. You learn to become adaptive and grow in countless ways.
Leaving your comfort zone can also mean leaving your job and entering a new field, or ending a relationship in order to get to know yourself as an individual.
Ditching your comfort zone means doing something that you’ve always wanted to but never had the courage to.
Take more risks. Go on an adventure without planning. Take a big decision quickly and make the most of it. Start talking openly about yourself and don’t be afraid to be judged.
This an exciting and fantastic way to live your life.
Set one of these life goals today! Don’t leave it for later. You’ve done that before and it didn’t turn out well.
Now, you’ve learned how to set life goals.
So, write down your goal now. By doing this you’re increasing your chances of achieving it sooner.
Find accountability. Make a plan. Define the first steps and go take action tomorrow, no matter how small. Track progress and feel good when you see you did well. Let that motivate you to keep going.
You should be excited about setting life goals, as that will be a turning point in your journey and the foundation of a brighter future.
So, what goal will you be setting today?
What goals are you most excited to achieve? Let us know in the comments below.
