If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?
As our new year approaches, it is entirely appropriate to examine your life and see what you can and should change. Setting goals is a way to take control of your life and move toward what you want. The idea of a purposeful life has been getting a lot of press lately, and it’s a great concept: moving toward an end goal instead of letting day-to-day things distract and move you. (It’s often tied into religion, but it’s a sound concept without a religious angle, too).
So how can we do this in real life? Let’s talk goals. A good goal has several characteristics. A good goal should be:
- specific (e.g. “get my Ph.D.” instead of “get a better education”)
- measurable, similar to specific: what means you did it? (e.g. “spend 20 minutes of undivided time with each child each day” instead of “play with kids more”)
- realistic (e.g. “make an extra $200/month” instead of “become a billionaire in a month”). Of course, you can’t be afraid to dream!
(A common acronym is “SMART” which is these plus relevant and timely, but as I do my own goals, I wouldn’t set something that wasn’t “relevant”, and “timely” is part of the “specific.” Think of it however it works for you.)
As we have many different “hats” in our lives, so, too, should we have many categories of goals. The actual goal categories vary by the person, but some examples of what you could have include:
- Personal
- Marriage
- Mothering
- Household
- Financial
- Career
- Fitness
- Spiritual
- Education
- Chesed / Community Service
Goals are also divided into groups based on the timing: short-term, medium-term, long-term, and life goals. The definitions on what length of time falls into which category vary. I find it helpful to have weekly goals, monthly goals, yearly goals, and big-picture goals. The longer-term goals are broken up into smaller pieces and put into the other categories so they are achievable, too.
For example, I am really pushing to finish my Ph.D. It’s in the IRB process now, but I should be approved and ready to collect data starting on 10/1/2011. My data collection will continue for a month, and then I have to write it up. I have set my first write-up submission as a goal for 10/15/2011. That gives me two full weeks to write up the results, and is a specific, realistic, and measurable goal.
This has gone on a little long, so I will add more on specifically how that applies to organizing your house and life in another post.
