How To Set Long-Term & Short-Term Goals

Setting goals will change your life. Take a second and read that sentence again. Whether it’s big goals, little goals, or huge OMG-I-Can’t-Believe-I’m-Doing-This goals, goal setting is the secret to getting what you want in life.

But don’t just take our word for it. A Harvard Business Study found that people who set goals were 10 times more likely to succeed than those who don’t.

Another study found that people with ambitious goals are happier and more satisfied, and other research says 90 per cent of people perform better with relevant and challenging goals.

Two very exciting things happen when you set a new goal. One, you get clarity on what it is you want, which in turn makes you more likely to actually get what you want – And two, you activate the part of the brain responsible for sorting and filtering.

This part of the brain, known as the Reticular Activating System, works in your favour by constantly being on the lookout for things related to your goal, making the attainment of your goal sooo much easier.

At The Head Plan we want to make goal setting as easy as possible (it’s the very reason we provide a guided practice in The Productivity & Wellness Journal) so here’s our simple step-by-step for making your long and short term goals happen.

How to set goals

Divide and conquer

Here’s the thing: we know that sitting down and thinking about what you really want in life can be pretty overwhelming first time around. That’s why we use six goal-setting categories that will help you to set great goals in every area of your life. They are:

Finance

Do you really want to improve your credit score? Hit a certain savings goal? Or improve the way you feel about spending? Great – you’ve come to the right place. Use this section to think about your dream relationship with money.

Business & Career

Maybe you want to break free from the 9-5 to launch your own business or hustle for that promotion. Good for you! Consider the characteristics of your dream job (while remembering it’s all possible) and write it all out.

Self Care & Wellness

This section is the perfect place for goals like reducing stress, improving your health, and making more time for yourself. Think about what you need to feel really good and jot it down.

Family & Friends

If all of the relationships in your life were functioning perfectly what would they look like? Who would you be spending time with and what would you be doing? Answer those questions honestly and you’ve got yourself some new goals for the family & friends section.

Personal Development & Learning

The most important relationship you’ll ever have is the one you have with yourself and that’s why self-improvement is an ongoing investment. Would you like to uplevel your leadership skills, learn to manage your inner critic or read a little more? This section is about becoming the best version of you.

Physical Environment

It could be improving your workspace or owning your own home. Whatever it is, a good environment can set you up for success. Think about what you need to perform at your best and write it down.

Set long and short term goals

If you could do, have or be anything (Spoiler: you can!), what would you like your life to look like in the next five to 10 years?

Take some time to really think about it and look out for what really resonates with you. Let your imagination run riot and write each long term goal down with an estimated deadline.

Success is the sum of small efforts so your next step is to break those big picture goals into short term goals to achieve over the coming weeks, months, and years. What steps do you need to get from point A, where you are now, to point B, the completion of your long term goals?

When setting your goals, keep this in mind: according to research, goal clarity directly impacts your level of motivation, so the clearer you are, the better!

 

Put pen to paper

Get this: just three per cent of people write their goals down, but people with written goals are 50 per cent more likely to achieve their goals than those who don’t get them out on paper.

Now, just imagine how likely you are to achieve your goals when you set long and short term goals, take daily action steps to make them happen, and regularly review and reward your progress like we do in The Head Plan Productivity & Wellness Journal.

When you write your goals and regularly review them you are signalling to your mind that this is something important.

In The Head Plan, we encourage you to review the goals you’ve set every day so your mind stays focused on your priorities and keeps attracting everything you need to succeed. Dream life: pending.

Create a vision board

Ever heard the quote ‘if you can see it, you can achieve it?’ That’s where vision boards come in. Not only do they help you to visualise your goal, they serve as a reminder of it too.

We are super passionate about Vision Boards and their power, so much so, we have included Vision Board Pages in The Productivity & Wellness Journal and we will dedicating some learning to this soon. Denise is adamant on us pinning our goals here in The Head Plan HQ… much like journaling and reviewing your goals, this visual prompt realigns your actions to your desired goals. 

Let it happen

Now that you’ve set some super-charged goals, it’s your time to shine by taking small daily steps towards success, while not obsessing, overthinking or worrying about why it hasn’t happened yet.GOal get ‘em! 

Goal getter and motivational author Gabby Bernstein puts it like this: “Let go of the need to control and allow the universe to do her thing.”

Ready to make those big goals a reality? Download a FREE PDF Preview of The Productivity & Wellness Journal today.