I would guess that most people do not have a clear set of goals or plan of action for their life. Is that you? I admit that I haven’t always had that or stuck with it when I did. I have read the facts though, and they state that people that write down their goals and stay focused on those goals accomplish more with their life and are generally happier people. Wow! That should be enough to encourage us to follow through with setting goals.
If you’ve never set goals for your life, what better time than the beginning of a new year. I’ve decided to do just that, will you join me?
Devote some time to think about what your dreams are, what makes you happy, what you want to accomplish in different areas of your life. Areas might be: spiritual, career, health, relationships, finances and retirement.
What do you want to accomplish in your professional life and by what date? It might mean going back to school or seeking a new career field altogether.
A goal stating you will lose 20 pounds and improve your health by 12/31/17 might be fitting for you; it certainly would be for me! Then it should be broken down into each step you will take to accomplish it and by what date.
We all should have retirement goals, but many of us didn’t really focus on that goal until late in life. If every 20-year-old determined a retirement goal for their finances and began taking steps to reach that goal, they would actually be able to retire comfortably when the time arrived!
Once you have written down your goals, then think about the steps you need to take to accomplish each goal. Break the steps down and give each one a date it should be completed by. Goals should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timebound (SMART).
Bad goal: I will increase my retirement savings.
Good goal: I will increase my retirement savings by $100 every month in 2017.
A step you might choose to take to help in increasing your savings might be: Every pay period I will take my lunch to work 9 days out of 10. (Allowing myself to eat lunch out 1 day per pay period.)
Once you have set your goals, review them on a regular basis (daily, weekly or monthly; whatever works best for you) and adjust them according to what is realistic for you. Don’t feel that you have failed if you need to tweak your original goal. Life changes and we change.
Reasons for setting goals:
- Written goals help us to stay focused on what we want to achieve.
- By staying focused we accomplish more.
- We are happier with our lives.
- Goals help us to stay motivated.
- Accomplishing our goals gives us great satisfaction.
Forms
I have included six forms to choose from to encourage you in setting your goals. To download the pdf just click on the name of the template under the picture.
People that set goals for their life accomplish more and are happier people! Check out these printables to get you started. #settinggoals #goals2017 Click To Tweet
At my husband and I’s stage of life the retirement years are right around the corner, and we have many things we need to accomplish to be ready. We talk about these things frequently, but we haven’t actually written them down as goals along with the steps we need to take. I plan on doing that now and pinning them on our bulletin board so they’ll stay visible to us. I also plan on setting a goal regarding getting healthier and losing a few pounds.
What are your dreams? I challenge you to take the time to give this some thought and then begin setting goals for your life.
I think we will both be pleasantly surprised with our results!
Thanks for reading today,
I will be sharing this post on the lovely link parties found on my “Where I Party” page.
