Thought 48 (e): Long term vs Short term goals

It is a good idea to think in terms of long and short term goals. List on a piece of paper, your long term goals. The long term goals may cover a time horizon of, say, one year - which is a convenient time frame.

However, you may find it more convenient or useful to consider more than one year. There is no hard and fast rule for this. A year, however, seems an easy and natural time period. The important thing is that you must have a deadline to complete your goals. Otherwise, nothing gets done.

Once you have your long term goals set, prioritize them, the first amongst them being the most important. Now, you are ready to set your short term goals based on the long term goals. The short term goals could be the milestones, which, when accomplished successively, you will achieve your long term goals. Each short term goal could be targeted for, say, a month.

Deadlines for goals

All goals must have deadlines. Without deadlines, the rate of effort may be too slow to be of any benefit to you. Deadlines activate you - and you spring into action. They make you give timely inputs and do not allow you to waste time on unimportant activities or in procrastination. Deadlines leave no scope for complacency. However, you should not drive yourself to extreme limits in this process. Do not attempt to achieve too much in too little a time. The stress involved can be counter productive. If you make these deadlines too cruel, you lose fun, excitement and ultimately, faith in this management philosophy.

The next thought is about “Action plans”