When you’re setting goals for a lifetime, you should be able to cover all the important areas in your life. So, a good method would be to categorize them as follows:
- Career Goals: Ask yourself what level do you want to achieve in your career. If you are an entrepreneur, the goals have to be a lot more streamlined and clearly planned. Hence, the need for budgets, business plans and mission statements. Where do you want your business to go and how do you plan to achieve these goals?
- Financial Goals: For what specific purposes do you need to acquire money? How much savings do you want to build and accumulate for yourself? Do you have a daily, weekly, monthly or annual minimum goal you have set for yourself?
- Educational Goals: In order to achieve your career goals and your financial goals, is there any specific knowledge skill set that you need to acquire? Are you interested in starting off something totally new? If yes, what education does it require?
- Family Goals: These goals are often neglected. But, you must be certain of your responsibilities towards your family so that you can work your other goals around it. Our family has written contracts that we have devised for one another. Our child knows the minimum grade she needs to bring into our household. Between husband and wife, we know the demands we have for each other as a mate. While it may not sound sexy, we have physically outlined on paper our relationship deal breakers. Just how late we expect to hang out at night before a phone call will become necessary. Do we both work or not. What is our projected retirement age? What to do with aging family members and so on. Your list will vary but the point is inescapable. You inspect what you expect!!
- Artistic Goals: We all have an artistic side. Sometimes, exploring this side might come as an important revelation in terms of your skills and abilities. If you have any artistic goals, make sure you prioritize them. Do you want to learn a new instrument, stage a play or perform in a musical? If you do, pursue it with passion.
- Attitude Goals: A personality quirk might be the biggest hindrance in your goal achievement. If you recognize this quirk, make it a part of your personal goals to overcome this issue. You’d be surprised how many people are held back from achieving their life’s goals because of a perceived unattractive attitude.
From Motivation, Money and Matrimony, Adrian and Marvlet Cox (2015)