Setting Goals to Accomplish Dreams

We all have dreams and aspirations. Getting there and accomplishing what we want can be very difficult, however. That is where setting goals comes in.

By setting goals- bite-sized steps that will get you to your dream, you keep yourself accountable and always reaching. Your dreams are the bigger picture, your goals are the steppingstones that help you arrive to the destination. (However, once you accomplish one dream you most likely will have several others you want to concur as well and so the process is never ending.)

In this article we examine five productive ways to set goals that will get you what you want out of life. Remember, it is virtually impossible to accomplish anything in life if you aren’t always striving for something a little more.

Five Steps to Accomplish Your Goals

1. What is your end game? It is pretty hard to set goals and start down a path if you don’t even know what you ultimately want. Think about what your purpose in life is and set your goals around that. Dig deep and don’t rely on what society says you “should be doing”. Instead think long and hard about what drives you, excites you and makes you want to do better every day. Chances are that is your passion and when you follow your passion, good things often follow.

2. Take accountability. Even if you are super passionate about something, hiccups happen, and it can be easy to get discouraged and fall off the bandwagon. Find someone you trust that will keep you going even on the hard days. If you don’t share your goals with anyone it becomes easy to just say “oh well” and pack it in. No one is going to know the difference if only you know about what you are trying to accomplish.

3. Make your goals visible. Along the same lines make sure your goals are constantly visible and known to you as well. Write them down so you see them every day. Make a list that you can check off as you accomplish things so you can see your progress and what you have left to accomplish. This will help keep you on track when life’s many distractions come calling.

4. Find something worth spending your life on. Here is the thing. Dreams and goals are rarely linear or go as planned. As such, find something that is worth fighting for and working toward your whole life. Make sure you find a goal that is important enough to you that you will want to navigate the ups and downs that will surely come.

5. Finally, account for setbacks. As we’ve mentioned a few times already, life rarely goes as planned and that means having a contingency plan for that as you set your goals. Think ahead and make a list of any potential problems you may be faced with as you go along your goal accomplishing journey. Is there anything you can do to prepare yourself ahead of time to avoid or minimize the setback? Sometimes there won’t be, but simply having the idea in your head already can better prep you to handle it with ease. This gives you a better chance of ultimately accomplishing your dreams when you are just as prepared for what could go wrong as you are for what could go right.