Into Motivation

To develop a life goal, you must be introspective and think about your successes, as well as your failures in life. Everyone has some area of life they would like to improve upon; it’s human nature. Setting SMART goals involves choosing ones that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive. You may have many areas you’d like to work on, but you should choose one or two as you get started. Prioritizing will be part of your success, since you want your ambitions to be achievable. Realizing your ambitions is another story that requires a positive attitude and continuous motivation. Here are some exercises to help you get started.

The first step to establishing a life goal is to do a little life planning. You might want to write down the basic categories of life, such as health, relationships/family, career, hobbies, finances and behavioral/personality traits. Then you can write down three sentences for each, stating where you have been, where you are now and where you’d like to be. So, for example, under your work goals, you might write… “Where I’ve been: I worked as a secretary at a law office. Where I am now: I am finishing my last year of law school. Where I’d like to be: I want to be an attorney at a law office firm.” You can feel good about where you’ve come from, but you can also brainstorm five short term goals that can help you reach the long term goal of becoming a practicing attorney. You might then list finishing school, taking bar exam study classes, passing the bar exam, interning at a law firm and updating resume.

Once you have everything written down, one predominant life goal will likely emerge. Have you put career first and let your health languish? Or have you been so preoccupied with your relationship that you lost sight of your career goal of running your own business? Look at some of your long term

goals and list the short term goals you must accomplish to get there. Then determine an appropriate timeline in which to meet your objectives. For instance, your long term goal might be to run a five-minute mile. First, you must set up a training schedule of 5 days/week. Then, you must try to run a mile without stopping. Then you can try to shave off a minute here and there to reduce your time from 10 minutes down to five. You can try training with weights to feel lighter or change your diet slightly to include more protein and energy-boosting foods. Whatever your plan of attack may be, looking at manageable, written goals will help you accomplish them.

After you discover your life goal, you need to look at what you logistically need to do to complete your task. Do you need to keep your life goal list tacked to your refrigerator or work desk as a constant reminder? Do you need to write weekly short term aims down in your day planner? Do you need cell phone reminders set to keep you motivated during the day? Reminders often help people who are trying to tackle complicated work projects. Also, do you need to hire someone to whom you’ll be accountable? When people are trying to lose weight or achieve fitness goals, it helps to have a personal trainer or work with an establishment like Jenny Craig, as people will call to make sure you’re staying on track and keeping focused. It may also be helpful to reward yourself for your smaller accomplishments as time goes by to keep you motivated and sensing progress.

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