By now, you should have spent a good bit of your time figuring out what your Long Term Goals are. You should know where you want to be in 5 or 10 years. Now is the time to start setting smaller goals to get you to those larger Long Term Goals.

What do I mean?

If you just set and try to achieve those Long Term Goals without a plan, you will most likely fail. There are just too many things to get in the way of those dreams. If you don’t have a plan of action, a planned out route of how to get there, then the task of that Long Term Goal will be overwhelming.

Let’s create that road map. Pick one of your Long Term Goals. Now think about the goal. How might you be able to get there?

Since this is a roadmap, write down all the different ways you might be able to get to that long term goal. For most goals there are usually several ways to get to the same point.

• Let’s say you want to get out of debt.
  • You could get a second job
  • You could get a higher paying job
  • You could spend less than you earn
  • You could file bankruptcy
• Now, you could travel down several of these roads, even at the same time. But you need to figure out where the landmarks are on those roads.
  • Let’s say you want a second job
    1. You have to update your resume
    2. Choose employers to apply for
    3. Go fill out the applications / Provide your Resume
    4. Attend interviews (This one would be a different step for each interview)
    5. Wait for a response
    6. If no one offers you a position go back to step 2
  • You could also spend less than you earn
    1. Find out how much you spend
    2. Find out how much you earn
    3. Figure out where you can stop spending money
    4. Stop spending that money
    5. If that is not enough Sell your expensive car and buy a used car (or refinance the expensive car. This may be more cost effective. You’ll pay more in the long run, but your monthly payments will be less. Also, you may start to break down more often while you still have payments due).
    6. Move to a smaller house. Renting can be cheaper than owning. You will loose the equity you could have in owning a house, but the landlord is responsible for repairs and you can move out without worrying about selling.

These small steps are your short tem goals. These are the goals you should have to get to the long term goal. You can break the short tem goals down into even shorter term goals. This is where you plan out what you are going to accomplish everyday to achieve the next step on your roadmap.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under Achieving Your Goals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.