Just like being organized, setting up goals in your life is equally important. Goals are important to drive you forward and keep you motivated. It is with this impetus that you set yourself for higher ambitions and dreams. By now, you must have got at least some reasons on why goal setting is important. If not, have a look on Top 5 reasons on why goal setting is important. Now, that you are very clear in your mind about your goals, let’s move forward and understand how often you should set goals. Generally speaking, goals can be set on a:
- Daily Basis
- Weekly Basis
- Monthly Basis
- Yearly Basis
- 5 Year Plan and so on
Personally speaking, for me, the first two (daily and weekly) doesn’t work out that often because of the dynamics that each day brings to me. Let’s be honest, not all your day would be the same and there would be some distortions that would keep coming your way on a day to day basis. So, it doesn’t work that way for me.
Same goes for the weekly goals. Some weeks are quite hectic for me due to some festivals or some engagements. Some weeks give me ample time and peace to organize my thought patterns and get my work done. Hence, in my planner I weed out the first two and start off with a monthly goal. That gives me ample amount of time to adjust to any surprises that comes in the way to affect my work and well as give me some time to get my work completed timely.
If I set up a daily and weekly goal and if I am not able to complete it for 2 consecutive sessions, that puts a pressure on me and kind of demotivates me to work on further with the same enthusiasm. So, I refrain from bringing any negativity to my momentum of work.
However, it is always a good idea to bring in adhoc goals and routine on a daily and weekly calendar. So, when you wake and start the day, try to put 2-3 work that you would like to finish by the end of the day, apart from your routine job. Just scribble your goals on a piece of paper or a stick notes. Just don’t be pressurized to complete it at any cost. This is just a personal experience. However, you are free to opt for any kind of goal for any given timeframe. You just have to match your goal setting with the kind of personality and work life you have.
Always remember, being organized and setting up a goal should make your life much more relaxed and stress-free. If they are adding too much pressure on you, then the whole process of doing it goes for a toss. You should enjoy the process of setting up a goal and being able to complete it.
If not, then this is not your cup of tea. There is no wrong in taking life as it comes and not paying too much attention to set goals. Goal setting is just one of the method to give you a direction There are many more that you can adopt as per your personality.
Let’s come back to the goal setting timeframe:
- Daily goals:
This comes under ultra-short-term goal setting. Here you can set your goals on a day to day basis. This type of goal setting is mainly useful for people who would like to complete their small tasks on a day to day basis, like writing a small article like this one or paying bills. However, do remember not to overdo with setting goals on a single day. Be realistic and simple.
- Weekly goals:
This comes under the short-term goal setting. Here, you determine tasks that you need to complete on a weekly basis. Generally, writing a series of articles, or competing a 3-hour video course that might help you in your career, can be a part of a weekly goal. This kind of goal setting is also good enough to keep you on track so that you accomplish your long-term goals in an organized manner without any lag.
- Monthly goals
This also comes under the short-term goal setting. Here, you determine tasks that you should complete in a month’s time. Generally, completing reading a book, finishing off a specialized course, or complete writing a series of articles on a specific topic can be one of your agenda under this.
The above three are short term goals. Similarly, you can set up quarterly goals and half yearly goals depending on the timeframe that best suits you. Set goals for timeframe that suits you and your lifestyle. Don’t just do it because someone else is doing it.
- Yearly goals
This is the first category of long term goal. You set up yearly goal to accomplish something bigger. Yearly goals could also be the consolidation of your short-term goals. You accomplish short term goals to reach your long-term goals. It is just that you take baby steps to finally accomplish it. A long-term goal can be anything like a diploma course, getting your site up and running with a decent traffic, writing a book, etc. Yearly goals should be such that it should add meaning to your life or makes small progress to your life.
- 5 Year Plan
This goal setting comes under the long-term category. You should set this goal keeping in mind the broader aspect of life. It could be anything that you would like to achieve like buying a house or renovating it, making an investment for future, writing a series of your first book, getting a PhD, etc. The fundamental idea is that when you set goals, it should bring in some positive and effective change in your life that you always wanted to accomplish.
You can customize your yearly plans to 3 years, 8 years or 10 years after analyzing the time that would be consumed to accomplish your goals.
So, which of them would be your goal setting time frame? Are you following any other strategy for your goal accomplishments? Do let me know about it in the Comments section.