Goal Series Conclusion

Goal

It’s time to conclude our goal series by wrapping up what we’ve discussed and review how we can continue to build the future we want.

Life goals and legacies

Long-term goals are all about thinking ahead

A life goal is simply a purpose that we pursue for the rest of our lives. A clear life purpose helps us understand where we should spend our time. Without a firm understanding of what our life purpose is, we can quickly become restless and aimless.

Many people don’t know the meaning of their life. Thus, they end up in a rut where they accomplish the bare minimum of going to work and feeding themselves or their families. This lack of direction ensures long-term depression and leaves many people wanting more from their lives and themselves.

With a firm life mission, we easily have a firm sense of purpose which helps us power through difficult moments or necessary distractions, such as needing to work a few more hours a week to fund the development of our skills.

Long-term goals

Long-term goals help us to understand where we want to be in a few years or a couple of months. Long-term goals go beyond our daily activities but give us a better conclusion as to what we should do with our day.

For example, our life goal may be to become an accomplished doctor. Conceptualizing this through daily or weekly actions is hard. However, if we say “I will have my doctorate in X years,” we can better appreciate the long-term intentions our daily efforts need to feed into.

Long-term goals act as an essential bridge between our daily lives and the life purpose we are pursuing.

Short-term goals

Set goals to achieve the future you want

Short-term goals are designed to be completed within a day or week. Without short-term goals, long-term goals become harder to envision and finish. Because daily aims are the direct actions we take to accomplish the more significant objectives in our life, short-term objectives are crucial to lifelong success.

The value of setting goals

Goals help us understand exactly what we want

The primary purpose of goals is to help us define the future we want. Without firm goal creation, we will aimlessly live our lives, following the rules and regulations society gives us. However, when we understand what we want, we can become more active in where our lives go. Additionally, we can confidently live our lives passionately and with an immense focus that is compelling and admirable.

Secondly, through the accomplishment of objectives, we develop a sense of pride and value. When we just do what we’re told, such as pay taxes, we don’t grow a firm sense of rational pride. We don’t pay taxes because we want to or because we’re passionate about them, we pay taxes as a social obligation, and we understand that there are dire consequences to not meeting this obligation.

It is impossible to develop pride in societal compulsion. However, if we meet our forced, involuntary societal burden AND pursue a difficult, individually defined goal, then we will quickly develop a deeper pride in our capacities and abilities because we are exceeding the minimal expectation and fighting for what truly matters to us.

Lastly, goals help us remain focused on what we believe is vital in our lives. We’re constantly told what should be relevant to us from governments, schools, family, and other institutions of society. However, we must develop an understanding of what truly matters to us. By crafting goals, we can define what is essential in our individual lives outside of the manipulations of the collective.

A few closing thoughts

Goals let us build the future we desire

Review your goals – I reflect on my life purposes everytime I wake up. When I need to walk around, I look at my daily goals. When I have a few seconds to myself, I read over my long-term goals. I keep my aims close at hand, so I’m always thinking about what I want to do.

Remain flexible – One of the biggest benefits of becoming an individual is the flexibility we gain. We must master flexibility by acknowledging when life takes us down a different path. However, we must keep our eye on our main prize and never drift too far from what we want to do.

Use goals to create better habits – Set objectives that help you build the habits that you need to succeed at longer-term goals. Set a daily target, for example, to cut down on sweets. From here you may save money by not buying junk food while improving your overall physical and mental health. Your improved health will help your intellectual facilities and possessing more wealth is always great for funding personal pursuits, and so on.

Always remain aware of your current life – Never set aims that you can’t accomplish. If goals are impossible or not doable at your current point in life, then you will become dejected and dissatisfied. Focus on crafting objectives that you can achieve instead of pursuing unconquerable feats.

Remember the “why” – Never forget why you set a particular goal. Life purposes require deep understanding, but it’s worthwhile to reflect on why you chose a specific daily goal. Self-reflection is key to individual growth so always understand why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Goals help us define the life we want. Through proper goal setting, we will always know where we’re going and why we want to go there. So set your goals, roll up your sleeves, and start building the life you’ve always wanted.

Actionables

Read the posts in the goal series:

Read articles that cover goals:

Questions to revisit

What do you want to be remembered by? What legacy do you wish to leave?
If you need help devising a legacy, reflect on the virtues and your life goals. From these elements, think about what you want people to remember you for, i.e., what would you like on your tombstone?
Do you have life goals? If you do, reflect on how you decided that they were worthwhile objectives.
If you do have life purposes, are you taking the time each day to do the actions necessary to achieve those goals?
If you don’t have life goals, why not? Additionally, write a list of a few things you love to do and the people you care about deeply. How can you tie these people and activities to the creation of life goals?
What long-term goals do you currently have? Why are those your goals? Do they point to your life purposes?
Are there any long-term goals that you’ve repeatedly set but have always failed at? Why have you failed at them and hat do you plan to do to change that?
Are you in the habit of setting multi-year goals or monthly goals? Do you feel you may think too far ahead or not far enough?
What are your short goals for today? Do you believe these goals will get you where you want to be?
How often do you accomplish the goals you set for the day? Why do you fail to accomplish? Why do you succeed?
What role do you believe willpower plays in accomplishing daily goals? Do you believe emotional control plays a role as well?
Practice setting time limits for each task that you have. See how well you can stick to those time limits.

Please remember that it’s important to do the actionables. You’re not on this earth to simply read but to do. To become an individual, you must act more than you consume.

*Image credit to Unsplash.