Crazy People Work From Home…

Many of us have never really sat down to think about our goals in life. In today’s society we are often in a hurry, but do we really know where we are headed? I think not. For example, earning more money is a top priority for many, but beyond that the very same people have no other goals. Just try to manage your time under such circumstances.

Actually, only quite a few of us have ever written down a single life goal. Still, listing goals is actually quite easy, as you will see below.

In order to take back the control, you should start by writing down your life goals. You may feel resistance at this point (we all procrastinate sometimes) but don’t make this difficult or imagine that this is complicated. It isn’t, so just do it. Some people have naturally a sense for their purpose, or maybe have done a similar exercise earlier.

I prefer dividing my goals into four categories: health, wealth, private, and social. Your social goals relate to your social surroundings, like friends and family. Your private goals are things you would want to do only for yourself, like learning fluent Spanish.

This is how to do it:

* Start by thinking about your long term goals. A good time span for these goals is 5-7 years. Listing short bullet points will be just fine.

* Next, focus on your next year. What will you try to achieve during the next 12 months? A natural starting point is to list small steps towards your long term goals. Some goals may be “one-off”, so that you only need one year to achieve them. When formulating goals, try to be realistic, yet ambitious.

* As a third point, try to think of a way how you will review your goals regularly. I suggest that you have a look at your annual goals once every 1-2 months. Some of you may prefer to have a look at them more often. You can even create a third level, a weekly one, for your goals. This is however optional.

Completing these three steps does not take long. It might take you only 15 minutes. Therefore I really encourage you to take these steps. Your time management will benefit greatly.

Having listed your long term goals should make you feel good. You now have a clearer picture of what you really want and what are your targets for the next year. Now you can start focusing on achieving you next year goals. Achieving them will make you feel even better. One year from now you will use your next 15 minutes to one hour on this exercise. You could not use your time wiser.

If you got interested in learning more about personal productivity and managing your goals, visit Harri Jussila’s website focusing on time management.