Most of us like to live by the moment. We experience life as it is and go along with the flow. But there’ll come a time when everything will come to a standstill. You’ll realize how you’ve been living in your own timeline of repetitive events where nothing seems to amuse you anymore. When this happens, you need to take a step back and think about what you want to do with your life.

Let’s face it, we aren’t getting any younger. As each day passes, you’ll realize how much time you’ve been wasting doing the things that won’t matter in a couple of years. This is why it’s important for us to set smart goals. Building a house by the Florida Keys is a wonderful ambition, but it’s also a dream that goes far into the future. Before you can reach these lavish goals, you need to break this dream down into smaller components. Short-term goals are an important part of life. These are somewhat easier to attain and are considered to be the mini-milestones to fulfilling a larger goal.

What Are Short-Term Goals?

A short-term goal is just about anything you plan to accomplish within the next year. It’s almost like a new year’s resolution, except for the part where you can plan it at any point in time. It’s considered to be the stepping stones toward a larger goal, as it holds a high level of significance in an individual’s life. Without these short-term goals, the journey ahead becomes too dark and intimidating for one to go on.

When it comes to setting goals, people often neglect the work that needs to be done to accomplish such. For instance, you can dream of being a millionaire all you want. But that thought will remain a dream unless you do something about it. You can begin saving when you’re young, start a business, and make wise investments along the way. You have to take things slowly before you go on to the next step. Otherwise, you’ll be left feeling disappointed over how far your goals seem to be. The value of these short-term goals lies on well you are able to handle certain situations, along with the progress you make over time.

While not all of us share the same visions in life, there’s no denying how similar our goals can be. This typically reflects every single aspect that affects our lives, whether it’s for our own financial growth or personal development.

Short-Term Goals for a Better You

All we ever want in life is to become a better version of ourselves. But this can never come if you just wait around and let things happen naturally. You can’t let the universe run its course alone, without pushing yourself to make your dreams and ambitions possible. Sometimes, you have to work for it. With that in mind, it’s important to set goals that center on the different aspects of your life. These life goals may sound innocent and simple, but they can only be achieved with patience, commitment, and perseverance.

The following are a few examples of short-term goals that require time and effort to accomplish. Think of these goals as a motivation for improvement in order to reach your long-term goals.

1. Finish a Project on Time

Tomorrow may be another day to start over, but it’s also another day closer to your deadlines. Start early. Stop procrastinating. Your projects won’t finish on their own, so you need to begin setting your priorities straight. There are different ways to stay focused on your work, such as by keeping your phone away and working at a quiet café or library. Stay away from temptations that may distract you from being productive. It would be better to plan a schedule of what to accomplish for the day. This will serve as a guide for you to complete each task accordingly. After all, finishing a project before it is due is a lot better than cramming and stressing yourself out the day before.

2. Wake Up Early

There’s nothing worse than waking up mid-day and realizing you just wasted a good morning in a deep slumber. Although sleeping may seem like the best way to rejuvenate, it can actually take a toll on your emotional and mental state. This is because your mind is confined in the four walls of your room and sometimes, the silence can be quite deafening. That being said, consider every day as a blessing to get up and try something new. Try waking up while it’s still dark out to watch the sunrise. You can even go for a jog or take your pet dog out for a walk. And when was the last time you had a proper meal for breakfast? The cool morning air and the sweet smell of pancakes are enough to tingle your senses and give you a positive mood to get through the day.

3. Have a Good Attitude

You can’t control everything that happens in your life, but you can change your attitude towards it. Even if your day has been going downhill from the very moment you got out of bed, always remember to treat the people around you fairly. You never know what a person is going through, so the least you could do is be polite. Work on building a positive mindset even when things get tough. A good attitude will help you make better choices during the most stressful times. Learn to accept the things that cannot be and move on from it. Life’s too short to keep worrying about the bad days when you could be spending your time making it better.

4. Keep Breaks to a Minimum

There are times when things can get a bit overwhelming for your mind and body to process, so when this happens, don’t be afraid to rest. You can take a walk outside or have a short nap. Never overwork your body or you could face serious consequences in the near future. But even then, taking too many breaks can also be a bad thing. This can often slow you down, making you lose motivation to finish your work on time. A few 10-minute breaks in between tasks would be enough to keep you going. It would also be best to use an alarm for this, especially if you aren’t much of a timekeeper.

5. Save Up for a Vacation

With summer fast approaching, maybe it’s time to finally award yourself with the vacation you desperately need. You can set out on an adventure with friends, go on a road trip, and travel to some of the most exotic places in the world. But let’s be honest, it’s hard to achieve any of these with an empty wallet. So before you begin planning your great holiday escapade, make sure you have enough funds to support it. A good vacation doesn’t have to cost you a lot, but it’s good to have something to spend with just in case. You can keep your money in a bank account or go for an old-fashioned approach with a trusty piggy bank.

6. Stick to a Daily/Weekly/Monthly Budget

Saving up is a challenge that’s difficult to do, but not impossible to attain. However, it does require enough willpower and determination to pursue. Knowing this, sticking to a certain budget is an excellent way to make wise purchases. This allows you to be mindful on what you plan to spend on. Do you really need a mega-sized pack of chocolates? Or maybe you can find a cheaper pair of shoes at your local thrift shop? Learn to meet your needs rather than your wants. While there’s no harm in treating yourself every once in a while, you still need to be practical with how you spend your money.

7. Eat Better

If you want to feel good about yourself, then you need to start treating your body right. You can do this by making better food choices. Greasy fast-food meals and microwaveable dinners should be out of the question unless you want to spend the rest of your life lying on a hospital bed. Go for healthier options, such as those that are rich in vitamins and minerals. You don’t have to cut-off cheeseburgers for the rest of your life, but you could minimize your consumption of such. Try adding a few fruits and vegetables to your meals, as these may also keep your energy up for the rest of the day. Drink lots of water to keep yourself hydrated and start creating a healthy meal plan for each day of the week.

8. Set Up a Workout Routine

Have you ever tried lying in bed all day, only to end up feeling tired throughout the night? That’s because being passive for hours can cause your body to become restless after awhile. You need to get active, even if it means doing it at the comfort of your own home. Having a workout routine is beneficial in a number of ways. For one thing, it can help maintain steady blood flow. This can help you develop enough stamina to do various strenuous activities on the daily. It doesn’t need to be anything too extreme either, especially if you aren’t trying to make drastic changes with your body figure. You can search for a variety of routines on the internet or get a trainer to help you with your workout.

9. Hang Out with Friends

Oftentimes, drowning yourself in paperwork, projects, and deadlines can be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. If you continue to abuse your mind and body, you’ll begin to lose who you are along the way. Every now and then, it’s important to surround yourself with people who have the ability to make you forget about your problems. There’s nothing wrong about being a career-driven individual, as long as you don’t push away the people who helped you get to where you are now. A fun night out with those you care about the most is enough to make you realize that there’s more to life than paychecks and morning coffee runs. You must learn to value the relationship you share with others because when everything else in your life slips away, you’ll be left regretting the moments missed and the people lost.

10. Read More

You can always learn a thing or two from a TV series or movie. But there’s nothing like reading a good book to find your inner peace. In this crazy world of social media posts and internet memes, reading an actual book is a beneficial form of recreation. It allows your mind to wander even at the most hectic point of your life.

Just like every other muscle of the human body, your mind needs exercise to stay healthy. Despite all the problems that life brings, losing yourself in a good story can make you forget about the things that have been bothering you. You immerse yourself in every single detail of the book, allowing you to concentrate on something that’s beyond reality. Reading can also help expand your critical and analytical thinking, especially when you’re reading something thrilling or mysterious.

What Are Some Good Short-Term Goals?

The life of a person is filled with various objectives and dreams. These goals are classified into different types such as time goals that are subdivided into short and long-term goals. Consequently, in attaining a long-term goal, tons of short-term goals are needed to make a concrete stair to reach it. Thus, short-term goals are just as important as the long-term ones. To give you a broader overview, here are some of the short-term goals in various aspects of our lives.

1. Short-Term Goals for Business

In the business sense, short-term goals act as the stepping stones for a long-term goal to succeed. These are vital and notable in various aspects of a business. To give you a broader illustration, here some good short-term goals in the field of business:

• Have an open forum and a brainstorming session to plan for the launch of a new product this Friday.
• Hire a great consultant to be educated on the appropriate marketing action tomorrow.
• Award and recognize the employees who did an exemplary performance this month to motivate them to perform better.
• Design a persuasive advertising poster within this week.
• Conduct a marketing report discussion for this month.

2. Short-Term Goals for Interview

Coming from the French word entrevue, which means “see each other,” one could describe interview as a private interrogation between two or more people that involves seeing or knowing each other. In this modern generation, the edge of technology has been utilized. Some of the initial job interviews are now done via phone or video calls. Nonetheless, the traditional interview process is still being utilized in most cases. The interviewer is the one who asks the questions in an interview while the one who is asked is called the interviewee. Let’s assume that you are scheduled for an interview next week. Here are some of the virtuous short-term goals you can apply before an interview.

Being the interviewee, some of your short-term goals may include the following:

• Be aware of the common interview questions today.
• Prepare an impressive resume today.
• Answer all of the interview questions confidently and coherently.
• Expand your knowledge on a certain field.

3. Short-Term Goals for Work

Though you deemed yourself loving the career you’ve chosen, there are inevitable times that your passion toward your job gradually fades. This may be caused by the recurrence of the activities, or you’re just seeking a better opportunity. As a result, you may find yourself less productive and motivated. During these situations, reminding yourself of your long-term goals could help a lot. Similar to other long-term goals, achieving your short-term goals are also a must.

Short-term goals for your work may include the following:

• Raise your productivity by 30% this week.
• Construct an applaudable marketing monthly report.
• Make a proficient lesson plan.

4. Short-Term Academic Goals

Every student has their own dreams and objectives in life. Some of them want to be the richest person in the future, some want to explore the world, while some want to lead the country. No matter what your life goals are, as a student, there is one long-term goal that everyone wants to accomplish—to graduate or get a degree. However, behind these long-term goals, there are short-term ones.

In your academic life, here are some of the decent short-term goals to help you be successful:

• Finish the homework tonight
• Get high grades this quarter
• Submit the graduation requirements

5. Short-Term Financial Goals

A Russian-American writer and philosopher, Ayn Rand, once said that money is only a tool, and it will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. In other words, money indeed is a vital element of one’s life; however, managing it is more critical. Moreover, in order for money to grow, you need to be a good wealth farmer.

If saving money is a great challenge for you, some of these short-term goals could help you discipline yourself:

• Set aside some money for emergency funds
• Effectively budget your salary this month
• Pay debt or unpaid balance

Difference between Short-term Goals and Long-term Goals

A goal is the desired outcome that an individual or an organization wants to achieve in regards to their plans and commitment. This is an important aspect of one’s life; as a matter of fact, it is a key factor for one’s motivation. According to the goal-setting theory of Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, goals impact the performance of an individual which are manifested in these succeeding ways:

• goals lead the attention and effort of an individual toward goal-relevant activities;
• laborious goals result in greater effort;
• goals elevate perseverance, with challenging goals prolonging effort; and
• goals indirectly direct to stimulation, and to exploration and use of task-relevant knowledge and strategies.

To summarize, Locke and Latham concluded that more challenging goals resulted in higher performance than the easier and simpler ones. Though all goals universally affect individuals psychologically, they are classified into three types. One of these is the time goal which is also subdivided into short-term goals and long-term goals, which also differ in various features.

Here are some of the features where short-term and long-term goals vary from each other.

1. Time Frame

Short-term goals are those that can be completed quickly. These can be done in the near future which could be performed within the next 12 months. This basically includes today, tomorrow, this week, this month, or this year.

Below are examples of short-term goals:

• Do the household chores
• Learn how to make a paper boat
• Go to school
• Book a flight

On the other hand, long-term goals are those that take a longer time to be accomplished. These can’t be done in the near future, which means that they need more than 12 months or a year to be done. Primarily, long-term goals are not the ones that can be completed today, tomorrow, this week, or this month.

The following are examples of long-term goals:

• Establish a brand in the cleaning business
• Be a professional origami artist
• Graduate
• Be a professional pilot

2. Difficulty

In relation to its time frame, short-term goals are simpler and easier to accomplish. These also require fewer, lighter, and more specific actions as well as less critical planning. For example, if your goal is to go to school, then this could be comprised of bits of systematic activities that you usually do. Furthermore, since it is a recurring activity, you don’t really need huge planning.

On the contrary, long-term goals are more complicated and require much critical planning. In achieving these, strategies and tactics should be considered, notably in the business setting. This is natural since these hold a bigger impact on an organization or individual. For example, your goal is to graduate at the secondary level of education. In order to accomplish such a goal, you will be needing to do bigger chunks of activities for a longer time. Since you haven’t experienced this specific goal before, you are much unaware of what’s going to happen, and serious planning is considered.

Short-term and long-term goals differ in various ways; however, both of them are similarly helpful for us to be motivated in life. Furthermore, even though short-term goals are less severe than long-term goals, these should not be neglected. Besides, in order for a long-term goal to be achieved, a set of short-term goals should be accomplished first.

Compiling Your List of Goals

Take the time to ask yourself, “What do I want to achieve in life?”

Every one of us has ambitions to pursue. And to be honest, some of these wishful thinkings of ours can be a little far-fetched, but that shouldn’t stop us from hoping for the best. It isn’t wrong to be ambitious, no matter how extravagant your goals are. In life, anything is possible if you possess the right attitude to achieve it.

But sometimes, you don’t really know what you want unless you take the time to fully contemplate it. Writing your goals down is a great learning experience, as it says a lot about who you and where you want to be in life. Feel free to write down just about anything you can think of, and then analyze each item carefully. This can help you determine whether it is something that will matter in the near future or not. After all, we all have a habit of changing our minds ever so often. The final list will then serve as your motivation to strive harder.

However, you must also remember to take things slowly. Life is not a race. You can’t expect yourself to accomplish everything all at once, or you might just lose yourself in the process. It would be best to prioritize your goals accordingly. If you think something may be done within the next six months, then go for it. Do not drown yourself with the thought of everyone being two steps ahead of you, as it’s never too late to start turning your life around.

When it comes to prioritizing your goals, here are a few guidelines to remember:

• Choose what needs to be done now. In most cases, time is of the essence. One of your goals could be to lose a few pounds for your wedding day. And since you only have a few months until then, you may want to keep this goal a priority. Never wait until the last minute to get on your feet. Otherwise, you might just end up regretting your decision.
• Focus your attention on that specific goal. There are a lot of factors that can affect the way we approach our goals. There are times when we feel as if multi-tasking is our only option. But truth be told, this can only slow us down from doing something better. This is why it’s important to stay focused on a certain goal before you even consider working on other things.
• Don’t hesitate to add more goals if you believe you can do it. A short-term goal doesn’t always have to be a life-changing dream. There’s no harm in having additional goals that are easily attainable. If it’s important to you, then take advantage of the opportunity. You just need to make sure that these goals do not distract you from the bigger picture.
• Flexibility is key. Life is scary. Even with your goals set out, you can’t expect everything to go as planned. We must learn to accept change and prepare to make sacrifices along the way. It won’t be easy, but everything will be worth it in the end.

It may take days, weeks or even months to reach your goals. There will be a few bumps in the road, where some are slightly bigger than the others, but this should never stop you from trying your hardest. Having goals can be exciting yet daunting at the same time, where the uncertainty of life makes us fear for the worst case scenarios. But regardless of the outcome, setting a goal for yourself gives you another reason to live every single day to the fullest. There’s nothing more fulfilling than to know you gave it your best shot. So, dream big. Don’t be afraid to take the risk. The best things in life come when you stop hoping for it and start working to reach it.