Thoughtful Thursday: Making goals

Growing up my father always loved giving out advice. In fact, he continues to do so today! This guy thinks he's the guru of life just because he's half a decade old. But, despite my dad's ego, his advice are coming from a good place. His goal as a parent is to prevent the next generation from repeating the same mistakes that he has made during his adult years to improve our quality of life. So today I'll share with you one of his advice, he told me in life "You need to have goals."  It's that simple. Setting goals for yourself keeps you active and motivated. Gives you a purpose for waking up every morning and prevents us from getting bored and depressed. This is a simple activity that anyone and everyone can do on a daily basis. Here's how to start (feel free to tweak this format to your liking):

Using your agenda, sheet of paper, an app on your smartphone or anything you tend to look at on a daily basis, write the headings:

SHORT TERM GOALS:

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LONG TERM GOALS:

Set some space in between the headings as we will need it to fill in our goals later. Next, we'll do something different that's not commonly practiced. Let's fill out our LONG TERM GOALS first. By initially determining our long term goals, we can tailor our short term goals towards our end objective making the process much more achievable. A long term goal is typically something that requires more than 6 months to complete (or the length and time frame is entirely up to you). Here's an example:

SHORT TERM GOALS:

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LONG TERM GOALS:

1. I will tone my body and maintain a waistline of 25" circumference by the end of December 2014
2. To obtain a position as an ICU nurse by the end of December 2014
3. To pay off my OSAP by the end of December 2015

Always remember to include a date with your goals, this will allow you to stay focused on your objective. Next, work on your short term goals, make sure to include a date and a method for measuring your short term goal. These are activities you can complete in a short amount of time varying from 1 day to 6 months.

Try to fill in your goals with this format: Activity, Purpose, Time (when and how frequent you will be doing this activity), Details about your activity, and Completion (when do you expect to complete this goal and how will you measure your success)

Here's an example:

SHORT TERM GOALS:

1. I will workout using Jillian Michael's exercise regimes 3 times a week and modifying my dietary habits accordingly to tone my body. I will eat 4 times a day/3 meals with 1 snack at scheduled times, each meal will contains at least 50% fruits and vegetables, less than 1 serving of meat (per day), no dairy, and lots of carbs! I will practice this lifestyle daily for the next 2 months. I will have succeeded when my waistline measures 25" in circumference by December 2014. 
2. I will take ICU courses at a college and apply for hospital registered nurse positions once a week to increase my qualifications and chances of being hired as an ICU nurse. I will take two courses, both occurring once every Wednesdays. I will apply for two available hospital positions (preferably ICU) once a week, every Thursday. I expect to complete the courses by December 10, 2014 with a grade of 80% or higher. I expect to receive a job offer from a hospital ICU/General medicine unit by December 30, 2014. 
3. I will pay off my OSAP loan of $20,000 every 20th of each month. Payments of $912/month and increasing up to $3000/month to finish paying off my student loans as quickly as possible. If more funds are needed, I will pick up more shifts at my current workplace or obtain a secondary job to increase my income. Success will be measured at the half way point on May 2015, where my amount due is equivalent to $10,000 or less.

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LONG TERM GOALS:

1. I will tone my body and maintain a waistline of 25" circumference by the end of December 2014
2. To obtain a position as an ICU nurse by the end of December 2014
3. To pay off my OSAP by the end of December 2015

Make sure your short term goals are as detailed as possible so you are better focused on the pathway towards your end goal. When your goals are measurable, you will feel more productive as you make progress towards whatever you wish to achieve. If you fail to make your goals by your expected date, don't feel bad. Instead, you will reassess and modify your goals in ways that are more obtainable in terms of your current circumstances. You can postpone the dates if needed or include a close friend as your motivator. Whatever you do, don't give up in the face of failure as failure is the mother of success! (a popular Chinese saying). If and when you fail, you need to try twice as hard to meet the goals you've set for yourself. Make sure to always reevaluate your short term goals on a weekly basis to make sure you're still on the right track. Remember you are fully liable and responsible for your own success!

--the plush duck