What Are Your Goals In Life and What If You Have None?

What are your goals in life? How many times has someone asked you that? If you are like most people, you would like to slap them for asking. But a more interesting question might be why would that question make you feel that way? It does so because of what it represents.

That question serves as a reminder of the things that you have put off in your life. It attempts to put a mirror in front of your face and remind you of where you are today. And let’s face the facts, we are where we are today because of all of the decisions that we have made in the past. There is no getting around that fact regardless of how hard we try.

For many of us, where we are today is nowhere near where we thought we’d be at this point in our lives.  And because of this, we often feel like a boat that has been set adrift – only to be guided by the winds and currents around us, over which we have no control. Even though we have worked hard, we don’t seem to gotten any place worthwhile. This is why we shutter when someone asks “What are your goals in life?”

‘What Are Your Goals In Life’ Should’ve Been Answered Earlier

The reason that we have such an aimless feeling is because we do not spend time thinking about what we want out of life. Unless we can identify our wants and desires, then we will always be adrift. At some point we need to determine what it is that we want to achieve. It is truly amazing how many people neglect to do this little thing that could have so much effect on the quality of our lives.

Here is the typical scenario and I am pretty sure that you will see something familiar in it, either in your own life or someone you know. When many of us finish our schooling (high school or college), we begin looking for work. Do we have a career objective before we begin our search? Probably not.

We get offered a job doing something that we would have never guessed – much less planned on – and before long, we’ve been working there 20 years. Did we ever set a goal that was solely ours? No, chances are we only sought after and achieved the goals that our employer established for us. Oh sure, we had a goal of buying a house, starting a family, and getting the kids through college – but doesn’t everyone do that?

Changing Our Focus to Goals

Okay, up to now, I have lamented about not achieving goals in life, and not being able to answer the question, “what are you goals in life?” The good news is that as the old saying goes, today is the first day of the rest of your life. In other words, we can start today setting goals for ourselves – even if we’ve neglected them in the past.

The first thing you need do is embrace the idea of letting your imagination run loose and letting your inner mind experience a dream life for yourself. This process can be very powerful and motivating. Once you start the ball rolling, you will never want to stop.

I recommend that you spend a few days (or nights) just relaxing in the vision of your dream life inside your head. Think of the things that make you happy, and also make those around you happy. Think of the experiences that some of your friends have had that sound cool. Now here’s the kicker – at some point during these visionary exercises, imagine being on your deathbed and looking back across your life. Ask yourself what was the one thing that you were most happy about, most proud of, or stood out the most in your lifetime. THAT – or at least some form of it – should be your number one goal, my friend.

Sculpting the Outline of your Main Goal

Now that we know what your main goal is, we can’t start paving a road to its accomplishment. The only difference dream and goals is that goals have deadlines. So that’s the first thing you write down in your life’s journal. And yes, it must be written down so that it takes a life of its own.

Next you start planning the required steps needed to get there. Establish a set of milestones that you can reach along the way. It is also a good idea to formally celebrate the achievement of a milestone. As you might have guessed by now, your goal needs to be measurable. Otherwise, you have no direction.

A person could set a goal to be ”more like his Dad”. Well duh! How is that measurable? He would have to identify exactly how he wants to be like his Dad and then lay out a path to get there.

What About Other Goals?

Yes, you should have other goals besides your main goal. And you should start planning those the very same way that you identified your main goal. You just ask yourself after the main goal, what is the second most thing you’d like to achieve. And you continue this process until you are contented with your list. Now, you can lay out the plans for all of them as well.

But don’t stop there, because there are many areas of your life. If you want to live a full balanced life, then there are other goals waiting for you. I believe you should have goals in every aspect of your life.

Let me mention a few areas in your life that may be goalworthy.

You could have physical goals: Lose some weight, run a marathon, do an ironman, beach a certain amount of weight, get body fat to a certain level, etc.

You could have educational goals: get a degree, get a master’s degree, get a teacher’s certificate, get a technical certificate, learn a new language, etc.

You could have hobby goals: learn to oil paint, learn to sculpt, learn to knit, learn to crochet, take up scrapbooking, take up pottery, etc.

You could have relationship goals: take spouse on weekly dates, set aside alone time with your kids, plan time with your parents, make a new friend each week, etc.

You could have spiritual goals: read the bible all the way through, learn about another religion besides yours, invite someone to church each month, donate a specific amount, etc.

You could have house goals: paint the bedroom, put up sheetrock in the basement, finish up the patio, remodel the kitchen, etc.

Summary

As you can see, there are lots and lots of goals that we could set for ourselves. The key is being organized. I am a big believer in keeping a goal journal. I keep the long term goals in the big with milestones, and I keep short term goals towards the front. On the front page is my daily to do list. I review all my goals during the weekend and start moving things from the back toward the current month and week.

When you start putting together a system that works for you and someone asks you, “What are you goals in life?” You will be ready for them.

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