One thing that makes my life feel under control is the ability I have to make goals and break them down so they become achievable. This is a newer thing I’ve been focusing more on and making these goals much more conscious endeavors. I find making larger goals that can broken down allow me to feel as thought I always have something to work towards or a larger purpose when things start to feel too mundane.
BetterUp, a blog on well-being, discusses the importance of goal setting and highlights the relevance of direction in your life and the motivation goals provide. Goals provide a better view of your future and allow you to step back and further investigate your life, your aspirations, and what you feel you are lacking.
CALE does a great job at defining different types of goals: process, performance, and outcome goals. This post also encourages to set both short-term and long-term goals. I strongly recommend this as well because it allows you to always be making progress.
I would also encourage writing down your goals in a place you will see often. For me, I have mine written down on my ‘to-do’ list on my computer, right under my everyday agenda. It helps to see them and think about what I can do each day to get closer to my desired outcome.
In order to better explain these types of goals I’m going to give a few of my own person examples. My top three at the moment are to get more involved in a club here at Penn State, to find a job I enjoy, and to put more time into a personal hobby (right now, I’ve been working on a Podcast). They are things that make me feel more productive and that also force me to think more about what I enjoy and wish to make more time for.
I originally started this way of thinking to fill time when I started to feel a lack of productivity in my everyday life. With this being said, things have started to pick up for me which means I also have to give myself grace. Now, I use these goals as a means to reflect on whenever I find myself having downtown. This is especially useful if I’m ever feeling bored because I can look through my goals and can always find one I can do something for to work towards my future outcome.
I’m fully aware that although aspirations are always a good thing to have, it is not always as easy to stick to the means to get to that end goal. A post by BetterHumans offers a few foolproof ways to stick to these goals, especially when motivation starts to decline. Some of the ones I found useful were to chop down your goals and to keep track of the progress you are making. I also believe that finding a person to share a goal with or to keep you accountable can be highly effective in the long run.
I hope this post is at least a form of encouragement for you to start that thing you’ve always wanted to or for you to set more time aside for the things you truly enjoy. And as always, stay zen my friends.
One of the parts of college that I have truly loved has been living life on my own terms, and it has helped a lot with achieving my goals. Your strategy of breaking goals down into small pieces and reminding yourself about them often was also super helpful. I will probably try this sometime soon and see how it works. Thanks for the advice!