How To Set Personal Goals For 2016 (When You Don’t Know What You’re Doing with Your Life)

Abbreviated version. Originally posted on Miss Black.

Most goal-setting tips will tell you a long-term life plan is the necessary first ingredient to personal goal setting, but what if you’re absolutely lost and have no idea what you want to do long-term, or only have a very hazy, undefined notion of what you want your future to be?

I feel this is the reality for many of us, and this is what stops many people from attempting to set any real goals. This is unwise.

Why Are Goals Important?

Sometimes people send me their personal stories of struggle, and the words that are most commonly used by young women to describe their futures to me are “scared”, “lost”, “confused”, and “overwhelmed”.

Either the future is a dark, looming question mark or the future we envision seems to be impossibly out of reach. I believe setting short-term goals and working toward them is the best way to reduce some of these unpleasant feelings, as goals help deliver structure and meaning to our everyday lives.

Goals are important because they allow us to pursue our interests and desires in an orderly way. This, in turn, builds the self-confidence and goal-setting skills that are invaluable life skills. When we see that we have achieved something, we instantly feel better about ourselves and have more confidence for what we choose to do next.

These skills will be particularly valuable when that looming question-mark or hazy desire finally becomes a solid life goal, as they give you the capability to understand how to get from A to B as painlessly as possible.

Goals allow us to set the tone for the kind of person we want to be. It’s hard not knowing what you want to do career-wise, but you are so much more than just a career.

You are a human being with a multitude of passions and a lot of ideas about the kind of person you would like to become. Do you want to know more about something? Be more confident? Make more friends? Build your skills?

Goals help you get there. One day you’re going to figure out what you want to do, and your commitment to bettering yourself and setting personal goals in the lead-up to this day will most certainly not have been a waste of time.

What Kind Of Goals Can You Set?

You most likely have interests, hobbies, things you wish you were good at, and little things you always mean to get around to, as well as studying and/or working. Despite not having a long-term life goal, these things are nevertheless worthy of being structured with goals.

We all have things we are passionate about, but it takes skill to harness that passion and turn it into something tangible and valuable. Passions are harnessed via goals, and goals help us shape ourselves into our ideal selves.

Ask yourself:

• Who is your ideal self? What qualities, skills, and achievements does your ideal self possess?
• What do you need to do to become that self?
• What tangible, actionable steps can you take to achieve the things you need to do?

Write it down if you have to. Map it out. Take the time to reflect and analyse yourself and your needs.

Goal-setting is an act of self-construction, and you should always be working toward constructing your ideal self. Your ideal self should be continuously learning and developing to become a more capable, intelligent, and confident person.

Anything is possible, you just have to be willing to map our the journey and follow the path.

I have created a free printable goal-setting worksheet (A4 size) that you can download, print, and fill out. Get it here.