How to Set Goals and Achieve Them

Overview

Have you ever felt like a day was wasted? Maybe you feel like this on most days. I have felt drained at the end of many days and did not have anything to show for a hard day’s work. This happens more often than not. We wake up, prepare for the day, work for someone else all day, come home, and prepare to do it all over again the next day. Sounds fun, right?

No. It is not fun. Your entire life will pass before your eyes. After 20 or 30 years of working for someone else, you look around and realize that you have not done anything for yourself. There will be little to no money invested, a new hobby was not learned, your health is poor, or you never took time to finish that degree. The Rat Race consumes many people until death. Dictionary.com defines the rat race as, any exhausting, unremitting, and usually competitive activity or routine, especially a pressured urban working life spent trying to get ahead with little time left for leisure, contemplation, etc. Sound familiar?

There is not a ‘one size fit all’ model to increasing your self-worth, but setting goals has proven effective. Before undertaking this practice, I was in a constant negative spiral of emotions. The negative spiral of emotions can lead to many traumatic outcomes, but they all seem to center around depression.

I found that setting goals and completing them are a huge boost to my self-worth. A goal, by definition, is an outcome by which effort is directed. Setting one goal is not optimal, that is why I suggest setting multiple goals. I break my goals into three categories: 1) short term, 2) intermediate, and 3) long term.

I will give you an explanation of the three types of goals.

Goals

Short term. A short term goal ranges from 0 day to 3 months. These goals are items that you want to accomplish quickly.

Intermediate. Intermediate goals are those that can be completed anywhere between 3 to 6 months. These goals can serve as milestones that you want to achieve on the road to accomplishing your long term goals.

Long term. Long term goals are completed from 6 months to 5 years. These goals require as many short term and intermediate goals as needed to meet them. The good news is that you decide how many short term and long term goals are needed.

How to accomplish your goals

1. Set aside time for yourself each morning before beginning your normal routine. This means that you should wake up 60-90 minutes before the time currently set on your alarm. You will receive instant gratification from this because you have invested in yourself before investing in someone else.
2. Write them down. This may sound simple, but we often keep a list of things we need to accomplish in our heads or as reminders on our smartphones. Well, life gets in the way and we forget to check the reminders on our phones. I cannot be the only one who has done this, right? Write your goals on a dry erase board, notebook, etc. As you accomplish one, mark it off. Do you know what will happen? An increase in self-worth.
3. Share your goals with family, friends, coworkers, or even your Twitter followers. This is done so someone else can hold you accountable. I used to make excuses for not wanting to accomplish a task, but this step in accomplishing goals proved to be invaluable.

Your goals should be constantly evolving, so check, double check, and adjust as needed.

Barriers

1. You. There will be days when you will not be the most motivated person, I get it. At those times, you will need to refocus on the BIG PICTURE. Do not quit on yourself, ever.
2. People. Believe it or not, there are people who do not want you to succeed. Personally, I have used this as motivation to accomplish my goals.
3. Impatience. ‘Rome was not built overnight’ is something that applies here. Small victories are still victories. Do not fast forward your timelines because, in my experience, it leads to setbacks. Trust the process.

If you are able to overcome the barriers that you encounter, you will achieve the following results.

Results

1. Positive spiral of emotions. As you start to accomplish goals, you are guaranteed to feel better. The positive energy will spill over into all aspects of your life. It is a wonderful feeling.
2. Actually feel like you did not waste your day. By giving time to yourself at the beginning of the day, you will have a better outlook on the rest of the day.
3. Be an example. People will ask you questions such as, 1) how do you have time?, why do you want to do that?, etc. Show them that by taking action, you are becoming everything that you want in life and more and that they could do the same.

Final Word

I do not enjoy the grind of the Rat Race. Getting out of the race is the primary reason that I started my company, Phillips Loop Holdings. The company includes a blog, Phillips Loop that serves as a source of travel information and real estate holdings, which provides passive income. Do I have everything figured out? Of course not, but I will keep working towards accomplishing my goals until I am no longer able.