Let's Talk: Goal Setting

Setting goals is an important aspect of getting where you want to be. Unless you are the world's luckiest person and things just fall gently into your lap without you having to lift a finger, you're going to have to work to end up with the life you want.

When it comes to creating goals, you should focus on setting both short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals can be accomplished in a year or less, while long-term goals typically take a few years and are loftier than your short-term goals.

Some examples of my short-term and long-term goals, respectively, are to receive at least all B's during my first semester of law school and to graduate law school. I can even break my short-term goal into tinier goals that I can focus on each week or each month. You can also see how I broke up my goal of graduating law school to focus on only one semester.

After you write out your goals, it can feel as if you're stuck with them, and if you don't accomplish exactly as you wrote them down, you've failed in some way. However, as you go through life and work toward your goals, it's okay to look back at them and rewrite them to fit how things are going for you.

If you have trouble writing out your goals, especially ones that are short-term, try working backwards from one of your long-term goals. If you can break it up into different things you can do to achieve that goal, you'll have a list of short-term goals at your disposal.

I'm currently trying to be better about writing down my goals. Right now, I work on my goals on a weekly basis, using some space in my planner. Right now, they're pretty small: drinking at least 8 glasses of water each day, getting both of my blogs out on time, doing chores, etc. I'm beginning to think about how I'll be using this section once school starts because I know smaller, weekly goals are going to help me stay on track when the going gets tough in law school.

Setting short-term goals can help you get closer to your long-term goals because of the sense of accomplishment you get from achieving them keeps you motivated to continue working toward your bigger goals.

What are some of your goals?

xoxo,

Rachel