How To Focus On The Goals That Really Matter

What do you want in life? The chances are you could come up with a pretty long list of things if you set your mind to it. There are probably things relating to your job or career, your fitness and health, your relationships, where you live, and many other aspects of your life.

But when it comes to setting goals which of these things really matter?

If you set goals for everything you want, or think you want, you may easily become completely overwhelmed and the list become unmanageable. So how can you focus on the goals that really matter?

Try following these steps:

- Make some time for yourself and grab a pen and some paper and list down all those things you want. Don't edit or prejudge, just write them all down - everything from the chance to have a lie-in in the morning to that dream home or dream car. To help try asking yourself some questions like, "What do I want to do?", "Who do I want be with?", "Where do I want to live or visit?", "How do I want to feel?", and "What do I want to own?".

- Keep the list simple - if for example a Ferrari is your dream car, just write "a Ferrari" with no further details for now.

- From your list try to identify how long it will take to attain each thing and then break them down into short-term (i.e. up to 1 year), medium-term (1 - 3 years), and long-term (4 years and beyond). Try to ensure you have a balanced list of 3-5 of each category - if you find you have lots of long-term goals it may indicate that you are putting off going for what is really important to you, or if they are all short term you have maybe not decided on what you really want in life.

- Now put some detail onto the remaining things on your list so that your goals are as precise as possible - so for that Ferrari add the colour, the engine spec, the model, what the interior is like, etc

- Identify why you want those things. Without a genuine reason, you may find that they are not that important after all and not worthy of setting a goal for.

- Look at how attaining the things on your list will make you feel. If you don't have an emotional response then setting a goal to get them will be harder to do.

- Discard those for which you cannot identify a genuine reason why and that do not have an emotional response. Without them it is unlikely that they are things that you really want as you move forward to the life you desire.

- You should now have a balanced list of short, medium, and long-term goals for which you can set a plan of action and start working on it.

You will now have goals that really matter to you and upon which you can focus. But be sure to review them regularly - on at least a weekly basis - to ensure that they are still important to you and that you are taking the steps necessary to bring them to fruition.

Only you can know what truly matters!


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Tony Hall is a marketer and business builder who works with others to help them to reach their full potential in business and in life. To learn more about him and to gain access to his free Internet Marketing Training Video Bootcamp visit his website at www.smartonlineincome.com