Planning for your life takes more than just writing down what you want to do. There are different strategies of planning that you can use to make your process more effective and the results of your plans more satisfying.
Among the first steps to take is understanding what difference short term goals have with long term goals.
Short Term Goals
First to note is understanding the meaning of short-term goals.
As the term suggests, short-term goals follow through a shorter period of accomplishing specific goals. Often, short-term goals could be completed within the day, within the week, or within a month up to six months. The idea is that it is based on something that can be measured within the closest possible time.
It could be about reading a book and completing it within a specific time, like one week or two months. Or it could be about completing a project assigned to you and is set to be completed at a particular date.
All these tasks are time-sensitive, primarily if assigned to you from work or school.
There are also some instances when individuals want to use short-term goals as the primary stepping stones for them to accomplish long-term goals in the future.
Long Term Goals
Next to consider is the meaning of long-term goals.
Long-term goals could be either general or specific. For example, General long-term goals may be posted as “to finish my studies in two years” or “to qualify for a promotion at work in one year.”
These goals are considered general because there is not so much detail on what would be done to reach these particular goals. However, even though the period is specific, the statement shows that the goal is to achieve the target outcome of efforts in a more general context.
But to reach these general long-term goals, there are more specific factors that can be considered to identify well with how the long-term goals could be achieved one-step-at-a-time.
This is where the general and specific goals come into play. The more you know about the difference between these two factors of goal setting, the more effective way of finding better courses of achieving your primary dreams in all different factors of your life. This means that you can set other long-term goals for your family life, work-life, or personal life situations.
General Vs. Specific Goals
As noted in the previous section, general goals are statements on what is aimed by a person in general terms. It highlights what a person wants to reach within a specific time from one to several years more.
On the other hand, specific goals are added to the long-term goals to make the process more effective. For instance, if the general goal is to qualify for a promotion at work by the end of the year, a more specific purpose might add a statement such as “through completing assigned tasks on time.” Or, if the general goal is to finish school in two years, the specific goal would be to get good grades from every task assigned to you as you go through the whole course.
Remember These
In planning for a better life flow, you need to know and set your goals depending on your priorities.
Certain things will define how you take every step necessary to reach your long-term goal.
Often, short-term goals are designed to give you a better take on how you can use each day a step closer to your long-term goals. Short-term goals also give you a chance to celebrate your achievements now and then. These celebrations could empower you to achieve more of your dreams to get to the much bigger picture of your plans finally.
Through the process of prioritization, you can see things more clearly.
A clear indication of your priorities will help you determine what long-term goals you can set for yourself to achieve. Once you reach these goals, you will undoubtedly feel as satisfied as you want.
So, how do you make both your long-term and short-term goals work?
Using a dated planner, you may be able to track through each of your goals while also keeping your priorities straight and keeping your eyes on your long-term life-changing goals.
If you love taking notes and putting down in writing what you have accomplished in a day, you may also want to own a daily notebook that lets you be creative in writing down your daily accomplishments. You can match it with fun and motivational stickers that will help you keep track of your progress and remind you of why you should keep on moving forward.