Goal setting is much like day dreaming, except that it needs to have a basis in reality. That is to say, if you want to retire comfortably by the time you are fifty you need to have a plausible plan. You’re goal may be unrealistic if you are forty-five years old and are several thousand dollars in debt. If you desire financial freedom, a more reasonable aspiration might be to clear away your debt.

There is nothing wrong with having dreams, but in order to achieve them you must set up short term goals that will keep you on the path toward your ultimate destination. Simply setting out a goal of early retirement does little to dictate what you are doing in the here and now. It is likely you will continually day dream about the great things you will be doing once you’ve achieved that goal and it will impede your effectiveness in doing the job at hand.

It’s fine to keep a goal like that in the back of your mind as an incentive to stay diligent, but you also need to set the short term goals that make the end goal possible. Going back to the original example, the goal of getting out of debt is a necessary step toward achieving the financial means for retirement. This goal will also help in developing good financial stewardship practices, which become increasingly important as you get older.

Short term goals and long term goals provide balance. If you have no long term goals, then the short term goals become pointless and your motivation diminishes. Without short term goals the long term goals become unachievable and you will just give up. You need to come up with a good combination of both in order to keep you moving on a day to day basis.

The thing that makes anything in life worth pursuing is the people involved. Our loved ones are what makes life worth living. The most important thing in any goal we set is to take into consideration those who are important to us. They will act as council and support in achieving the good things that life has to offer. If you are humble and wise enough to accept good council then they can keep you on track and help you avoid the pitfalls of wrong decisions. If and when mistakes are made, your loved ones will help get you back on track.

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