The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or by a set time, say 10 years from now).
These things needn't be business-related — you can use the categories below to consider what you want to achieve in all areas of your life. You may want to add other categories that are particularly important to you.
- Attitude — Does the way you think or act hold you back? If so, what can you do to change your behaviour?
- Career — Do you want to reach a specific point in your career? When would you like to achieve this?
- Education — Is there any specific knowledge, skill or qualification you could gain that would help you achieve your other goals?
- Family and friends — How do you want to be seen by the people around you? Is there anything you could do to improve your relationship with your partner, or your parenting skills?
- Finances — How much do you want to earn, and by what stage? Are there steps you could take to improve your current or future financial situation?
- Health and fitness — Do you need to improve your health, or are there any fitness goals you want to achieve? How are you going to do this?
- Leisure — How do you want to enjoy yourself? It's important to make time for yourself and your own interests.
- Public service — Is there anything you'd like to be doing to help others or improve the world around you?
Once you have your list, try to identify the most important goal in each category. Then see if you can narrow your selection down even further, so that you have a small number of really significant goals to focus your efforts on.
It's important to make sure your goals are things that you genuinely want to achieve — not ones that other people expect of you.