Happy New Year, Everyone! Now that the holiday season is over, it’s time to set New Year’s resolutions and goals. However, many people get stuck when it comes to setting long-term goals.
Broadly speaking, goals are defined as the desired states that we seek to obtain, maintain, or avoid (Nair, 2003). Long-term goals can be defined as a set of goals that require a longer period of time to achieve.
For example, they could be goals related to education, career, relationships, motherhood, self-development, fitness etc.
Long-term goals require planning and sustained effort, so they can be a bit trickier to achieve than shorter-term goals.
Yes, I know what you are thinking, that doesn’t sound very feminine or very easy.
So, even though I am the queen of laziness there are some aspects of life where effort is needed. Also, we all have masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang, there isn’t one without the other.
Without further ado here are some tips to get you started.
How to Reach Long-Term Goals
1. Set specific and challenging goals
We achieve more by setting specific goals that are a little bit bigger or challenging, but not too challenging. If we set easy goals, we often don’t achieve as much as we could because we don’t push ourselves quite as hard.
2. Set meaningful goals
Reaching goals that you care about is easier than reaching goals you don’t care about. So, it’s helpful to get clear on what you do care about right from the start.
3. Set realistic goals
It can be tricky to know just how much you can achieve. In fact, if you don’t believe in yourself, you might set your goals too low and miss out on doing some great things.
If you believe in your ability to manifest something, you are more likely to persist until you do. So, take some time to dream big and then put on your reality cap to reflect on what is possible.
4. Commit to your goal
We silly humans don’t like to disappoint ourselves or others. So, when we commit to something, we’re actually more likely to do it, especially if we share the commitment with other people in our lives.
Having someone keeping you accountable is a great idea, however, not every goal you have must be shared with everyone. It is a balancing act of knowing when and who to share things with.
5. Create a feedback cycle
Feedback can be helpful so that you know how well you are doing (Latham, & Locke, 2007). Even if you don’t have someone to provide feedback for you, you can still put systems in place to give yourself feedback.
In other words, you could track your progress on how you’re moving towards your goal. That way, you’ll know how you’re doing.
Align Long-Term Goals With Core Needs
Researchers suggest that we are more motivated to fulfill core needs like autonomy, relatedness, and competence (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999). So when setting long-term goals, try to identify how each goal relates to a core need.
For example, ‘starting your own business’ might relate to autonomy because you are free to work on what you want. ‘Finding love’ might relate to relatedness. And ‘getting a promotion’ might relate to competence.
By identifying how your goals relate to your needs, you’ll have a better sense that what you’re striving for will actually make you feel good once you get there.
Phases of Long-Term Goal Pursuit
The long-term goal achievement process includes:
- Initiation. Getting started on the goal.
- Maintenance. Continuing to work on the goal and execute actions that lead to achieving the goal.
- Persistence. Overcoming challenges, setbacks, and emotional issues like exhaustion, boredom, or dissatisfaction.
- Revision. Periodic review of the goal to track progress, revise plans, and reevaluate the goal as a whole (Sniehotta, Schwarzer, Scholz, & Schüz, 2005).
Sticking to Your Goals
The thing about long-term goals is that they are … well … long.
That means they require dedication, determination, and persistence. They require overcoming both tangible obstacles and emotional obstacles.
So, some have suggested that in addition to creating an action plan (a plan for what you will do), it can be helpful to have a coping plan (Sniehotta, Schwarzer, Scholz, & Schüz, 2005). Here are some tips:
Clarify possible challenges
Anticipating the situations that will slow or stall your progress towards the goal can help you develop a plan for how to respond effectively.
Then, creating “if-then” statements for each potential obstacle can help you more easily overcome it.
For example, if I’m exhausted and just need a nap during the time I have set aside for my goal, it’s OK because then I have a backup time set up that I only use when I need it.
Think about how to overcome distraction
Perhaps the most common obstacle is distraction.
Maybe some parts of our long-term goal are boring or hard. Or there are just a lot of distractions in our lives.
That’s why putting a plan in place to minimize distractions can be helpful. For example, we can download an app to pause our emails, log ourselves out of social media, or put a time limit on our internet time.
Or, maybe we benefit from headphones to drown out noise. Or maybe we just need a few snacks nearby so we don’t have to keep running out to get something.
Think about what distracts you and how you might overcome these things.
Know your challenges
Take some time to think about what’s stopped you from reaching past goals. Write these down and then brainstorm what you’ll do. Try to be specific (say more than “I’ll figure it out!”).
(By the way, if you want to make it fun, cute, and feminine my little tip is to write in pretty ink colours on white paper or regular blue or black ink on pink, blue, or yellow paper!)
For example, if low self-confidence often keeps you from reaching your goals, maybe you use some self-love exercises when you find you’re getting down on yourself.
By having specific plans in place to cope with your unique difficulties, you can increase your chances of success.
To summarise here are easy proven tips to setting long term goals:
- Set specific and challenging goals
- Set meaningful goals
- Set realistic goals
- Commit to your goal
- Create a feedback cycle
Setting long-term goals is very important and can help with an easy lazy life as you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and a way to do so!
There is this quote that always stuck with me.
Fail to plan, then plan to fail!
Try these tips and let me know below if they work for you because I want all of you to succeed!
References
- Nair, K. S. (2003). Life goals: the concept and its relevance to rehabilitation. Clinical Rehabilitation, 17(2), 192-202.
- Latham, G. P., & Locke, E. A. (2007). New developments in and directions for goal-setting research. European Psychologist, 12(4), 290-300.
- Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: the self-concordance model. Journal of personality and social psychology, 76(3), 482.
- Sniehotta, F. F., Schwarzer, R., Scholz, U., & Schüz, B. (2005). Action planning and coping planning for long‐term lifestyle change: theory and assessment. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35(4), 565-576
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