Setting Goals in Life: Guidelines for Beginners

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

Alice in Wonderland -Lewis Carroll

Goal setting is identifying what you want to achieve in life, how you will achieve it, and measuring that achievement. Many people work hard but remain adrift, almost lost in real life because they do not work smart. They do not set appropriate goals. One of the main reasons for this loss of meaning in life for them is not spending enough time thinking about what they want from life, and haven’t set themselves formal goals.

Read the biography of any successful person- spokesperson, businessman, politician. Invariably, all of them owe their success in life in their respective fields to setting appropriate goals and working hard to achieve them. Setting goals gave them long-term vision and short-term motivation, the two pillars of success.

By setting clearly defined goals, one remains focused to organize time and resources for leading a successful life.

How to Set Goals?

Setting a goal is not rocket science. Consciously or unconsciously, one is always doing some sort of informal goal-setting. However, one must do it formally, devote enough time to reflect, and then write them down. Goals must be set according to your age; goals set by a young man entering his or her practical life would be different from those set by a person nearing retirement.

For those who may find it difficult to determine their long-term goals, here is my “Three Fs Triangle of Goal Setting”

A. Fitness: (mental alertness, physical fitness, and being disease-free)

B. Financial Independence: (regular income, tangible assets, and cash to spare) and

C. Fame/recognition: (known to be an expert in at least one field),

While every person has to develop his/her strategy per his circumstances and preferences for the achievement of fitness, financial independence, and fame respectively, I can suggest some guidelines in this respect

A. Fitness

No one needs a lecture on the benefits of keeping oneself fit. It not only improves the quality of life by reducing your risk for numerous ailments such as heart disease and diabetes, but remaining fit can also save you from other complications that can result in expensive medical care. Countless studies have shown that regular physical activity increases life expectancy and reduces the risk of premature mortality.

Fitness has three dimensions-physical fitness, mental alertness, and, being disease-free

1. Physical fitness

Physical fitness requires a balanced diet, moderate exercise, and stress management. Eat everything you like but ensure that it contains all the five ingredients i.e. carbohydrates, protein, etc per recommendations, and never overdo it while eating. I never recommend weight reduction for fitness, rather another way round, i.e., take care of your fitness, and it will take care of your weight. Moderate exercise of 20/30 minutes per day does wonders for keeping you fit. Stress management comes from lowering your expectations from people, society, the state, and God.

2. Mental Alertness.

Mental alertness is achieved by keeping yourself busy with something you know and like. However, learning new skills, daily reading and periodic writing, solving puzzles, and learning a new language are some excellent ways of improving your level of mental health. There are so many free courses available on the internet; just fix a set time every day for these activities.

3. Controlling Disease.

Disease-free life essentially means if you are suffering from any disease, its treatment or management should be your priority

B. Financial Independence

Financial independence has three dimensions namely, regular income, tangible assets, and cash to spare

I. Regular Income

At any time, you must have at least two sources of income –one active and one passive. Explore the internet, but beware of the quick rich scams. Always google the antecedents of any scheme you like and find out whether it is a scam or not

II. Cash to Spare.

Those who say that money cannot buy everything may be right to some extent, but believe me, you cannot buy anything if you do not have enough money. Make it a goal of your life that you will never be without some cash at any time.

III. Tangible Assets.

Sooner or later you must have at least a fully furnished house to live in, a car, and some form of portfolio investment. For this start earning and saving as early as possible and investing in some profitable venture i.e. stocks, even penny stocks are a good investment for beginners and those with less income. Once you have enough cash, go for a property that is the best game in town in these days of low-interest rates. Doing your own business should be your last priority unless you have an excellent proposition. And there is no harm in purchasing a lottery ticket-seriously! At least you will have the anticipatory excitement of winning the prize for a few days.

C. Fame

Fame is here being used in terms of recognition, which again has three dimensions namely, reputation as an expert in at least one subject, recognition as a writer, and an acknowledged speaker.

1. Expertise

A person must know something of everything, but everything of one thing. Be an expert in any one subject; it only takes two hours of daily study for 06 months to become an expert in any one subject. In a rapidly globalizing world, you never know when you are called to do a consultancy or deliver a lecture.

2. Accomplished Writer.

You must aim to be a writer-not necessarily a Shakespeare, but at least one who can write a good article or a report when needed. Again there are hundreds of courses, mostly free of charge or for a nominal price, available on the internet. Start writing a blog, and convert your posts into an E-book -the fastest way to become known for your expertise.

3. Acknowledged Speaker.

Should I write something to emphasize the importance of speaking for a successful life? Do join a course if you feel that shyness that has been hindering you to express yourself cogently and forcefully in everyday life. It is never too late.

Conclusion

All set for setting goals? Start with setting your life goals. What do you want to be in real life? An accomplished writer? A leading businessman? A top athlete? Now set milestones, preferably five-yearly milestones. Regularly review and update them. And remember to take time to enjoy the satisfaction of achieving your goals when you do so.