A Few Tips on Setting Goals

Here are a few tips on setting goals of various types. The idea is to start small but think big. You should have personal, professional and lifetime goals, but short-term and long-term. In order to build confidence, you start small, coming up with a goal that you can easily accomplish in a short period of time.

For example, a short term goal might be to organize your kitchen. You might give yourself two days or a week to accomplish the task. Your long-term goal would be to "keep" the kitchen organized.

You might create a check-list and hang it on the fridge. Every day, you could check off items that are important to you. Checking items off of a list gives one a sense of accomplishment. Just be sure that the list is not too long.

Effective tips on setting goals include the need to make sure that the goal is "achievable". An unachievable goal would be to lose 20 pounds in a week. An achievable goal would be to lose one pound in a week. An even more achievable goal would be to take a walk every day after dinner.

In order to stay motivated, you have to be flexible and realize that something may get in your way, occasionally. If a hurricane is roaring outside, you might not be able to go for your walk, but you could do some exercises in the living room or straighten up the house.

Your first step is to sit down with pen and paper. Think about what it is that you would like to achieve in your life. Many motivational speakers offer tips on setting goals. Most have the same basic suggestions. Start with your future goals and work backwards.

For example, your long-term goal might be to start your own business. Working backward, you would think of things that would allow you to achieve that goal. You might need education, start-up money, equipment, office space and a variety of other things.

You would eventually end up with a list of things that you can do tomorrow to bring you closer to your dreams. It might only be bringing a bag lunch to work and putting the money saved towards your future.

Use photos or pictures to remind yourself of what your plans are, what dreams you want to achieve. Hang them on your bathroom mirror to remind yourself of where it is that you want to be. Hopefully, these tips on setting goals will help you get there.