Introduction

To succeed, you need goals. Goals help you align your actions with your purpose, so you don’t waste your limited resources.

I’ve talked extensively about goals. You always start with life plans that define what you want to do. From there, we look at yearly, monthly, and weekly goals to provide clear benchmarks for progress. The last type of goals is daily, which tracks what you need to do in the short term.

Today, I want to discuss my techniques for creating life, yearly, monthly, and daily goals. I cover the SMART goals technique. With this walkthrough, I hope to help you build tasks that improve your life.

Quick Overview of Goal Types

two darts - red and yellow - hitting a target

Having clear goals keeps you on the best path in your life. The man who has no clear aims is the one who falls for any distraction.

Let’s do a quick overview of the goal types by looking at one of my life goals: to tell stories that inspire individuals to live virtuously.

Life Goal

I decided on this goal for a few reasons:

  1. I can realistically accomplish it. There is no “endpoint”; it isn’t a bucket-list item but a mentality. Every book I read, story I edit, and image I draw brings me closer to fulfilling this goal.
  2. I enjoy telling stories, and life should be spent doing what you enjoy doing.
  3. This goal is challenging; a meaningful challenge makes life meaningful, because you have to be virtuous to achieve something important.
  4. Fulfilling my task improves the lives of others because entertaining, virtuous stories will guide others to be their best.
  5. I am not dependent on others to fulfill this goal. I am the primary driving force.

Your life’s purpose will take time to consider and finalize, so don’t rush it. But once you do, you will have a vision that directs all your other actions.

Let’s now dive into yearly, monthly, and weekly goals.

Yearly/Monthly/Weekly Goals

I combine these types because they serve the same purpose: to help you understand whether you’re on the right track.

Some yearly, monthly, and weekly goals I have include:

  • Completing Momma’s Old School Burgers by the end of 2026 (yearly)
  • Creating 20 comics for Momma’s Old School Burgers by the end of March (monthly)
  • Dedicating ten hours of time towards learning how to draw (weekly).

Each goal type should pour into your life goals. Ask yourself those questions constantly – does this goal help me achieve my virtuous ends? Is this wasting my time and distracting me from something bigger?

For example, I once had a five-year plan to buy a bigger house. However, this plan did not feed into my life goals. I discarded it, so I could focus on improving my art or investing in a better computer.

Next, we will dive into daily goals and discuss their importance.

Daily Goals

Your daily tasks are the second crucial goal type to consider. Why? Because they provide the most immediate feedback.

Everything other goal type is abstract. Planning a year or a month creates a sense of calm and false security. That will happen in the future. The future is ambiguous, has no clear definition, and cannot be readily accounted for. But today? This hour, this second? You’re living it now, and you need to do everything in your power to hold yourself accountable.

Therefore, when we step into SMART goals and the MVP strategy, we will focus primarily on daily tasks.

Some daily activities I pursue include:

  • Spending 60 minutes progressing a blog post for BAi (writing the rough draft)
  • Drawing a webcomic for 2 hours > feeds into the monthly goal of creating 20 webcomics
  • Draw for 30 minutes today > feeds into the weekly goal of drawing for 10 hours

Now that we’ve covered each goal type, let’s continue our journey by focusing on SMART goals. We’ll define what they are, then provide practical applications.

Maximizing Your Effectiveness: Creating SMART Goals

redhead woman standing and smiling

Being effective in all aspects of your life is the key to a better life. We cannot simply rest in mediocrity – through techniques like SMART goals, you can cut the fat and become more effective at everything.

SMART system defines goals as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound:

  1. Define the goal (Specific) – Writing 1,000 words a day is focused and specific.
  2. Measure progress (Measurable) – You can easily measure 1,000 words.
  3. Ensure it’s attainable (Achievable) – An individual dedicated to improving as a writer can write 1,000 words a day if they set aside an hour to do so.
  4. Align with your broader objectives (Relevant) – Writing 1,000 words a day aligns with “becoming a better writer” because to improve at a skill, you must do it. Obviously, this one activity is not all one needs to do to improve writing, but it is a foundational step.
  5. Set a deadline (Time-bound) – “A day” sets a clear deadline.

When we take the “become a better storyteller” goal above, we may use that as a long-term goal. With SMART goals, we can better define actionable, measurable steps that help us reach that more vague, overarching goal.

And the best part about SMART goals is how well they mesh with other systems. Similar to individualism, the SMART system is foundational. No matter how you like to structure your day or think about goals, having the clarity the SMART system brings will aid you in your endeavors.

Lastly, remember to reward your focus and commitment. If you stick to this system and make significant progress in your life, treat yourself to fun activities, snacks, downtime, whatever works best for you and isn’t addictive.

Conclusion

I want to conclude that you can utilize these techniques to help you with your responsibilities and duties. You must never neglect your future. Your life is limited. You have desires that burn in your heart. There is no reason for you to have to sacrifice your virtuous ends.

So, Become An Individual. Set your goals, ensure they challenge you and benefit others, then set your course.

You have much work to do.

Actionables: SMART Goals and Self-Improvement

Reading about goals means nothing if you don’t act. Here are two exercises to complete before you close this tab:

  • Define your life goal. Write one sentence describing what you want your life to stand for. It should be ongoing rather than a finish line, personally meaningful, and independent of others’ approval. Don’t overthink it – write something down and refine it later.
  • Build one SMART daily task that feeds into it. Take that life goal and ask: what is one specific, measurable thing I can do today that moves me toward it? Not this week. Not this month. Today. Write it down, set a time to do it, and hold yourself to it.

That’s the system in its simplest form. A direction and a next step. Everything else builds from there.

Please remember 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.

Refer to the linked articles and studies throughout this post for detailed evidence and case studies supporting these views.

*Image credit to Unsplash.