The following is a guest post by Loren Pinilis. He writes about time management from a Christian perspective at Life of a Steward. He has a passion for helping people reduce stress and be truly effective by connecting productivity and faith.
What could you accomplish in ten years? In two years?
Dreaming big and setting lofty long-term goals can change your life. These goals can drive you, direct you, and determine your priorities.
But there’s a hidden pitfall we must avoid in making long-term goals. We can’t keep them long-term.
Action is Now
David Allen puts it this way:
“One of the best ways to procrastinate and deflate real motivation is to create big goals that are interpreted as ‘long-term.’”
When a deadline is far off, there seems to be a lot of wiggle room. If I want to write a book this year, does it really matter if I don’t write this week? After all, I’ve got a whole year – right?
We can postpone the tough work until later because time seems to be on our side.
But no one ever accomplishes their goals by thinking about what they’re going to do later this year. They accomplish their goals by what they do today.
Break It Down and Move It Forward
To avoid this problem with long-term goals, we need to move them forward.
Think about what it would take to accomplish the goal. Break it down into smaller benchmarks and set tight deadlines.
If you want to lose 30 pounds in a year, set a sub-goal of losing 20 pounds in the next six months.
Then go a step beyond that and bring the goal even closer. What’s your weight loss target for the next three months? The next month? The next two weeks?
Motivation and Aim
Long-term goals do have their upside. They’re great at providing fire, so use this intentionally to motivate you.
Consider what your world would be like when the goal is fully achieved. Harness that feeling to drive you to action and to keep you going through the good times and the bad.
But take that energy and aim it toward your sub-deadlines. Concentrate your course on those benchmarks.
Take your motivation and translate it into action towards your sub-goals.
The Power of the Review
Our inner procrastinator loves the ability to put off the hard work of moving towards meaningful goals.
This danger is compounded when we’re unsure of our progress.
With long-term goals, we don’t know if we’re falling behind until it’s too late. At that point, we often lose our motivation, feel dejected, or break down and quit.
The most crucial aspect of sub-goals is avoiding this through the practice of reviewing.
Don’t wait until a year is up to realize your approach wasn’t the best – how did you do this week?
Evaluate what’s working. But also think hard and learn from your mistakes.
Retool as necessary and meet your sub-goals.
Get Going
Dreaming of success isn’t enough. Stay there and you’ll never accomplish anything.
Don’t be afraid of setting long-term goals that will change your life. But realize that part of the process of achieving those far off goals is to systematically move them closer to today.
Question: What long-term goals do you need to move forward?
Hey Loren,
Thanks for this post. I like your idea on subgoals. It reminds me of mission and vision statements. Vision statements are those long-range plans that are 5 or so years out. Mission statements are the shorter-range goals that help you achieve your vision.
I also compare it to being out at sea. The horizon is like the vision statement while your method of actually getting there is your subgoal or mission.
🙂
@shaneketterman Glad you liked the post, Shane.
I think being out at sea is a great analogy, but sometimes I also think it’s more like taking a hike through the woods. When you’re out at sea, you can see everything pretty clearly. Hiking through the woods, you have your map – but you have to be attentive to what’s going on around you. Your destination stays the same, but your path could change pretty quickly.
But I really love your point about mission statements helping you achieve your vision. Short-term goals are there to serve your ability to accomplish the long-term goals. That’s a key insight!
@Loren Pinilis Great point about the woods Loren (I say this as I get ready to go for a walk in the woods!) I like what you said about your path changing pretty quickly – that’s so true.
Thanks again for such a great post.
People so easily get waylaid with achieving goals, and this post really hits at why that happens. Setting sub-goals is so important. We live in an instant-gratification culture, so the sooner we can see some results, the better. Great job Loren!
@struggletovictory I agree. Many times we get so fixated on immediate results that we give up when we do not see them.
Sub-goals provide the opportunity to make progress visible while keep on course to the main goals.
@TMNinja
Small things done over time add up to make a huge difference. That’s my current motto.
@struggletovictory Love it! 🙂
@TMNinja @struggletovictory Keep going strong!
@struggletovictory Thanks!
That’s an excellent insight: sub-goals can actually increase our motivation. That’s another great benefit.
One of my long-term goals is to get out of credit card debt. It’s been a loonngg goal, but we are making progress every month. What really helped us was admitting that we needed help from a reputable nonprofit. With their help, we created a plan we can actually stick to. Our goal is to be out of credit card debt by December 2012.
@lauralee Glad to hear you’ve got a plan that’s working out for you. All the noble goals in the world are worthless without action – and a plan is often needed to insure the right action is being taken. I have a similar goal – paying off my home in 12 years. We just purchased it, so it’s a pretty ambitious goal. Here’s to being debt free!
@lauralee Thanks, Loren. Good luck with your goal on paying off your home!
Loren,
Although your long term goals are important, what is happening right now (and what action you take) will move you closer to your “big one”.
Deciding on the next concrete action step is the best thing to do right after setting a big goal. That way you are taking advantage of the momentum aspect: you are excited about your goal and if you decide on the next action right away, you might make a great progress forward immediately.
Cheers,
Timo
@timokiander Great point! Momentum is so important. I’ve read a bunch of old school experts, like Brian Tracy, who have taking an immediate action as an actual step in their goal-setting process. They emphasize doing something – anything – today in order to get that momentum going. I must admit it always seemed a little overboard to me, but perhaps they’re wiser than I am.
I couldn’t agree more. Long term goals can serve as a crutch, that’s why people tend to feel discouraged when December comes around and their “year” goal was not accomplished. Breaking big goals in smaller attainable ones is the way to go- thanks for sharing!
@AraceliGonzalez My youth pastor joked that, at 7:00 PM on New Year’s Eve, he had five more hours to lose 20 pounds and memorize the book of James. Time flies, and those goals can fly away too if we aren’t monitoring our progress.
Hi.
I think long term goals are essential in the sense that they provide the bigger picture of where we are headed in life.
But at the same time, as discussed here, long term goals can also be used as an excuse for inaction.
That’s why the sub goals and immediate next steps become so important.
This is a great distinction. 🙂
The point is well made in this post. 🙂