It can be difficult to sit and think about what we actually want from life, and it is sometimes easier to stay with what we know and within what we feel comfortable. Goal setting can be a personal way of helping you to realise where you want to go in life, and achieve the things you want, turning your (possibly unknown) desires and dreams into reality.
Goals can be as big or as small as you want, however it works better if the goals are realistic. You can have a completely different list for ‘win the lottery’. We can look at that another week!
It may be your goal to meet more people. In order to achieve this, we would need to identify the steps needed to reach this end goal. They may be:
1. To check if there is a local book group
2. Find out when and where they are meeting
3. Plan how to get to the location on time
4. Speak to at least 2 people before you leave at the end of the evening
All of these steps are achievable with a little planning, and in case you get cold feet, give yourself a deadline. This is a very simple example, and goals will be very specific to you and what you want for life. Some of you may want to go on a tour of the world, or become a famous writer and it’s important to know that even the biggest of goals can be broken down into smaller achievable steps.
The key is taking the time to think about where you are and where you want to be, and then you can work out how to get there. Having your goals written down is a big part of achieving them. You can monitor progress, amend them depending on any changes in circumstances, and check off your steps as you complete them.
To keep you on track and accountable, you can even write to your future self! This can also be a great way of keeping track of your goals. You can write down your goals for the future in a letter to yourself and re-open it in a 1, 5 or 10 years time. There is even a website that will send you your typed letter by e-mail whenever you choose: Future Me
So why not have a go at some goal setting – you never know where you might end up!
