Previously I had spoken a lot about SMART goals and how, using this method, one can have a higher chance in achieving these goals.
Short Term/Long Term Goals
We all want to go somewhere in life, no one wants to stand still, so we set these goals some for tomorrow and others for years to come. There is a lot of value in setting goals, the impact they can have on your life can and will be huge.
We can use goal setting in many different ways, some use it everyday to make them feel that their life has meaning. We all want a sense of purpose to our lives, it is what motivates us, what drives us to do better achieve more.
Short term: These are goals we set that we will be able to achieve in the near future. Often these goals do not have a well thought out plan or require extensive procedures to accomplish this goal.
Short term goals are normally set vaguely as they should be easy to accomplish. These will impact our lives, but not as much as long term goals, as we don't have a far future view when setting them.
Avoid setting complex short term goals as they will be a lot harder to achieve and could even discourage you from setting further goals.
Long term: If you are not doing extensive research or thought on these long term goals you want to set, you will find it hard to achieve them.
The more time we spend, initially, on making these goals the better we will know how to achieve them. These goals will change your life and anything that can change your life is worth taking the time and effort in understanding and accomplishing.
Long term goals can diminish our enthusiasm and motivation in achieving the goal set and even setting more goals. One of the best ways to prevent this is to set marker goals, as I like to call them.
This is like the small treats of the big party (the goal). Setting these small marker goals is a great way to keep track of your progress in your long term goal, but it makes you feel great when we achieve them. Small constant rewards is a great way to keep the motivation and determination going.
Remember it is your goal, you can change it or adapt it, just make sure you try your best to achieve it and always remember in every failure there is a lesson. If you don't achieve you goal it is ok you just learnt how not to do it and probably a few other things alone your way.