This doesn’t mean, of course, that you should forget about your other long-term goals if you have them. You have plenty of time in your life to accomplish numerous long-term goals. Some may just have to wait until you have the time to commit to them. Prioritize your goals so the most important one is completed first.
Say your goal was to go back to school for your master’s degree. You would like to do your master’s in 2 years, which represents the deadline for your overall goal. There are several sub-goals involved in this goal that you should give a timetable to as well. You’ll want to apply for the program within 3 months, then find an adviser in your first semester, then develop a thesis topic in your second semester. By sticking to these smaller deadlines, you’ll be able to stay on track for your larger goal.
Work in an area with few distractions. Before you’re disciplined enough to ignore or tune out distractions, you should eliminate them entirely. Meditate. Regular meditation can help focus your mind and keep distractions at bay. Design a schedule and stick to it. Without a tight schedule, you’re more willing to give into procrastination. Schedule your day and make sure that during time you’ve scheduled to work, you’re focused on working. [6] X Research source Focus on starting tasks rather than completing them. It is often more difficult to get started on something. By forcing yourself to start, you can allow momentum to take over and you’ll be able to finish with less effort. [7] X Research source
Say, for example, that you have a habit of sleeping in on weekends. However, you’ve set a goal that you’d like to write a book within the next few years. You realize that you can add several hours to your work if you wake up earlier on weekends. By making a habit of waking up early, you’ve found more time to research and write, which will lead to a faster accomplishment of your goal.
If your long-term goal was to live a healthier lifestyle, you can keep a log of your diet and exercise habits, as well as your wight loss statistics. That way, you’ll have a record of your progress. When viewing this record, you may see that you’ve come a long way since you started working on this goal. Seeing your improvement will help keep you motivated to keep working. You can also see if there are any areas you should work harder on. You may notice that over the last month you’ve fallen behind on your diet. With this information, you can come up with a plan to improve your eating habits over the next month to get back on track.
Say your goal was to start your own business. You know that this is a financial risk and your business may fail to turn a profit for the first few months. In preparation, you commit to saving enough money to support yourself for 6 months. That way, if your business gets off to a slow start, you’ve anticipated this potential problem and made arrangements so that it won’t ruin you.
If your goal is to live a more healthy lifestyle, there are plenty of ways you can make that enjoyable. Playing sports, riding your bike, and taking hikes are all fun activities that also help keep you in great shape. [11] X Trustworthy Source Mayo Clinic Educational website from one of the world’s leading hospitals Go to source
Your ideal future may be to be financially secure. This would involve getting a high-paying job. After doing some research, you decide that specializing in computer science would lead to a lucrative career. So, you set a long-term goal of getting your degree in computer science and working for a programming company.
Your broad idea may have been to go back to school and get your degree. This is a great start and a great goal, but it is still too vague. When will you enroll? What will you major in? A better way to phrase that goal would be, “In the Fall semester I’m going to enroll in school to get my bachelor’s in biology. " This gives you a concrete goal, along with when you will start working towards that goal.
Weight loss, for example, is more of a short-term goal that takes a few months. Living a more healthy lifestyle, however, is a lifetime commitment. You should separate these two when assessing your goals. Certainly losing weight will contribute to a more healthy lifestyle, but much more time and a different kind of effort must go into changing your lifestyle.
