How to Set Goals & Priorities

Having a set of goals based on your individual priorities gives you a target to work toward, with daily motivations so you don't get caught up in the monotonous, unimaginative attitude associated with the daily grind. Taking the time to carefully outline the important things you want to accomplish can help you lead a more satisfying, productive life without having stressful breakdowns because you're simply overwhelmed by the amount of work yet to be done.

Instructions

• 1

  Brainstorm and write down a list of priorities in your life. This list will include anything and everything you're dedicated to and want to spend your time on, including work, family, education, spirituality and friendships. Write until you can't think of anything else. If you repeat items, that is okay. Oftentimes, repeated items on the list represent the things that are most important to you.

• 2

  Consolidate the list so you can view all the priorities in your life on one sheet of paper. Write down goals for each of your priorities for 5, 10 and 15 or more years from now. Take time to carefully consider these goals, and make sure they're attainable, even if they will take a lot of hard work and dedication.

• 3

  Break each goal down into actionable steps. Take the next 12 months into consideration, and decide what you will do each month in order to progress toward each of your goals. If you need to, set a deadline within the month to have each task completed. Once the year is up, you can see how far you've advanced and plan for the next year based on your previous success.

• 4

  Make a calendar or task list that puts your goals and actionable steps into a visual document to refer back to on a regular basis. Somewhere on the calendar, prioritize the tasks you want to complete. If something happens and you're unable to complete all your action steps for that month, at least you'll know which ones are the most important to you so you can have an action plan of which steps to tackle first.