Goal setting is the primary tool for helping us reach our maximum potential. Goal setting is an action plan proposed to stay focussed, for a person or a group or a team to achieve a specific result or a goal. It is crucial that we need to set goals in our personal life as well as for our professional careers. With goals setting, we can channelise ourselves to achieve our specific goal effectively. We also need to set a time frame for achieving those goals, this gives us the intended direction in our life.

Benefits of goal setting. 

• Goal setting not only gives a purpose to our life but provides a pathway helps us stay focussed in our journey towards the desired result.
• Personal satisfaction, upholding the inspiration & motivation enhancement in quality of decision-making are some of the significant benefits of setting Goals.
• Setting Goals helps us document our desired results & identify our potentials, so we can explore our core strengths & weaknesses. We can then leverage our strengths to achieve our goals as per the plan.
• Through Goal setting a person is able to achieve his or her desired results effectively in the specified realistic time frame.

Long-term Short-term Goals. Short term goals are achieved in a shorter period of time whereas long term goals may not have a specific time frame  may take a few years to accomplish, but are a result of multiple short-term goals in the journey.

Some examples of Short-term goals on a personal or professional level could look like the following. 

• Improving soft skills.
• Reading a book on a specific topic.
• Learning a new language or taking a new course
• Exercising & dieting for a specific result.
• Acquiring a new qualification.
• Learning current networking & communication skills.
• Working on improving work life balance.
• Getting familiar with a new technology.

Some examples of Long-term goals on a personal or professional level could look like the following. 

• Buying a house
• Starting a business.
• Making plans for retirement living.
• Investment in Assets, (Bonds, Securities, Real estate).
• Career advancement in job hierarchy.
• Building growing the professional network.
• Becoming an expert in a particular field etc. 
• Better Parenting.

The Goal has to be realistic achievable. A realistic goal can be achieved by using one’s inspiration, motivation, and acquired skills potentials. Whereas an unrealistic goal cannot be achieved or accomplished. This will only result in frustration dissatisfaction in life will damage your self-esteem.

How to set goals?

• Begin with the desired result in mind before planning the goal.
• Write down the goal.
• The goal has to be realistic.
• Identify your core values strengths.
• Make an action plan have milestones along the way.
• Set the time frame to achieve each milestone in your journey to achieve the goal.
• Keep monitoring evaluating the progress fine tune the activity along the way for best results.
• Celebrate the achievement of each milestone along the journey move ahead.

Remember, the most important ingredient to success is Consistency. You need to act; you need to start now and be consistent. So, set a goal be consistent with the activity. Success is inevitable!