Goal setting is an important part of life. It's what sets standards and guides you through life starting at a very young age. When you're an infant, your goal (or you parent's goal for you) is for you to learn to crawl, walk, be potty trained and then talk. Then your goal is to learn to write your name, and then as you grow older, your goals become much larger and will take longer to accomplish. At different stages in your life, your goals will be different but the key is to make sure that you do indeed have those goals.
Setting a goal is the only way to make sure you get where you want to get or obtaining what you want to obtain, no matter how big or small. These can be short term or long term goals, but as long as you have them in mind you're good to go. Keep in mind that your goals should be realistic, because if you have goals that are too far fetched, chances are, you won't be able to achieve them and will only end up disappointed and discouraged.
The next step to achieving them is not only setting them but writing them down. This will help remind your brain what you're trying to accomplish. I always find that writing down my goals is helpful because then I have it on paper, and it's more official to me, rather than just having it in the back of my head.
The hardest part about setting a goal is actually getting started and working towards what it is you want to achieve. If your goal is to get a 4.0 this semester in college, you have to start right away or else you will not achieve your goal because it will be too late if you procrastinate. If your goal is to lose some weight, you have to quit saying "I'll start my diet tomorrow". It may be tough to get the ball rolling, but once it is rolling, it will be hard to stop it.
If you have a long-term goal, split it up into multiple short term goals. To go back to my previous examples, if you want to get a 4.0, start by setting smaller goals like you want to stay on top of every homework assignment, go to tutoring, and ace all the quizzes in between the start and the final grade. If you want to lose a certain amount of weight give yourself mini goals so the bigger number you want to lose, doesn't seem so hard to do.
Lastly, you could be doing everything else I've mentioned but you will only achieve your goal if you truly believe you can, and set your mind to do it. If you don't believe in yourself, then you will not accomplish it and that is a fact. Self-belief is a huge part of achieving goals, because if you don't even believe in yourself, nobody else will believe in you either.
It is never a bad thing to have a goal, no matter how simple. It could be as simple as having a goal to make sure you don't procrastinate on laundry for too long. Small goals in life can help you achieve a lot more than they may seem, and once you achieve one goal, you will want to go bigger and bolder!
