How to Set Life Goals

Setting life goals is extremely important if you want to achieve your dreams. As you know, there have been many books and guides written to help people set life goals.  These books often try to motivate readers to take those giant life chances and set out for their dreams. However, not everyone has time for lengthy books or seminars. Therefore, below, I set forth a very simplified guide on how to set life goals.

Reflect

What do you want for your life? Take time to determine what exactly you want in your life. Do you want to live in a particular city? Do you see yourself with a certain lifestyle? Take the time to meditate and really get in touch with your own personal feelings. Do not think about how others may feel about your goals and dreams. Take this brainstorming exercise as an opportunity to fantasize selfishly about yourself. Try to be completely honest with yourself in the process as you determine what attributes of your life goals are important to you.

Visualize

Now that you have envisioned your personal dreams and goals try to really envision how these goals would look in real life. Go online and try to find images that line up with your ideal end goals. If you have a dream home as a life goal, find an image of a house that looks like the one that you have in mind. If you are imagining the perfect tropical island destination, find a beach setting picture, and save the image by either printing it out or using an online bulletin board to capture the image. Save as many images as you need. Use these images to construct a personal vision board that you can use for motivation.

Plan

Last, create a basic plan. Determine how you can achieve your life dreams. What steps are needed to set your particular goals?  For example, if you have a dream home or a sports car in mind, how can you financially achieve this goal? How much income do you currently have? How much money is needed to attain this objective? Also ask, how soon do you see yourself achieving this goal? Once you have the answer to these questions, do the math and make a financial plan. If the goal is around getting married or starting a family, explore joining a dating website or have a discussion with your partner if you are already in a committed relationship. The key here is to either put the dream into action or come up with a realistic plan to achieve your goals.

Taking the time to set life goals and map out your dreams is a huge effort.  Take the time to set the goals and make the plans. Realize that a desire turns into a wish and when you apply action to a wish, your dreams just may come true. The day you realize that you have achieved your goals, you will see that planning was worth the hard work.

What are some of your life goals? Leave a comment and join the discussion.