Idea 7: Set personal goals
Answering the questions in Idea 6 will enable you to set out more clearly the goals and objectives you want to achieve in your life and, linked with your time management skills, plan the important steps you need to take to achieve them. You will then be able to ‘add years to your life and more life to your years’.
The approach is to work from the long term back to the short term, as follows:
- What are my lifetime goals/objectives?
- What are my five-year goals/objectives?
- What goals/objectives will I set for achievement within one year?
Taking this approach will ensure that you concentrate on those goals/objectives that are important to you. The strategic element of your approach will then ensure that you analyze the obstacles that you have to overcome and plan your priorities and the ways/means to achieve your one-year, five-year and lifetime goals/objectives.
For each set of goals/objectives:
- Have I identified obstacles and opportunities?
- What are the ways/means to achieve goals/objectives, despite/because of those obstacles/opportunities?
This will give you your plan(s) for how to achieve your personal goals and objectives – which you must then implement!
Set goals and measure your progress toward them – and be prepared to review the goals themselves for their continuing relevance.