Many goals we set are relatively short term. Things like; wash the car, dig the garden, bath the kids. These everyday tasks may not seem like goals; but they are none the less. Anything we want to achieve is a goal to be attained, these are just short term goals that don’t need a lot of planning because, for the most part, they make up part of our daily or weekly routine.

Then there’s the long term goals, those things that are going to take months or years to complete. This is where we turn our dreams into reality by setting our dreams as goals. How do we manage these long term goals?

How many of you have set a goal for, say, 12 months time only to realize in 11 months that your target is only 1 month away and you’ve nothing done? What feelings does that engender in you?

Long term goals require more organization to ensure they get done, and the longer the time scale the more organization that is required.

Let me give you an example. Suppose you’re going to reach retirement age in 15 years and you’ve a goal to retire to a cottage by the sea. That’s a pretty long term goal; how easy would it be to set that goal, write it down, and then recall at your retirement party that you had some dream of retiring to a cottage by the sea?

Long term goals need organization if they’re to become reality!

In my next post on goal setting we’ll look at how that organization works. In the mean time here’s an exercise for you:

Make a list of your dreams. No, not the sort you have while your asleep, the dreams you have for your life. To this list add anything you already have as a long term goal – that is anything you’ve set a target date of over 6 months to achieve. This will become the basis for achieving your goals!