A long-term goal is a declaration of what you hope to accomplish in the future. Short-term goals typically require less time, planning, and effort than long-term goals. As opposed to long-term goals, which are frequently accomplished after a year or even more, short-term goals typically take less time to complete. Long-term objectives typically include short-term objectives, which are more manageable and attainable steps that add up to the long-term objective, which is the desired outcome, because they can frequently take so long.
You can set goals for various purposes, professional and personal. For instance, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration would be a great long-term objective. This long-term objective can be divided into shorter objectives, like signing up for a leadership course. Depending on the type of leadership course in this hypothetical example, it might take you a day or even less to complete the course, or it might take you a few weeks or even months. But in order to complete all the requirements for the degree, earning a bachelor’s degree will take months or even years of study and a combination of several courses.
Pro-tip: Reserve 30 minutes on my calendar for assistance with creating sensible long-term objectives for your company. Regardless of the stage of growth they’re in, I help other business owners set long-term goals and develop a plan of action to achieve them every day. I’ve started and grown 12 businesses with a clear set of long-term goals.
- Become a better spouse or parent.
- Complete your first marathon.
- Create and commit to a fitness routine.
- Learn a foreign language.
- Cut junk food out of your diet.
- Start volunteering regularly.
- Increase your emotional intelligence.
- Earn a college degree.
15 examples of long-term career goals
Here are 15 examples of long-term career-related goals you can make to advance your professional success:
What are long-term goals?
A short-term goal might be to enroll in a leadership course, while a long-term goal might be to earn a master’s degree in business administration. Depending on the leadership course, enrollment and completion times could be as little as a day. But earning a master’s degree requires lengthy application procedures and may take years to complete. You can categorize your long-term objectives into various groups when you set them. These groups may be related to your personal or professional lives and could comprise:
15 examples of long-term personal goals
Take into account these 15 long-term personal goals you may set because being more satisfied with your personal life can help you become more focused and productive at work:
15 examples of long-term financial goals
You should take into account the following 15 long-term financial objectives if you want to improve your financial situation:
How to prioritize goals
The steps listed below can help you prioritize your objectives.
1. List your goals
You can make a list of the objectives you’ve set for yourself in order to comprehend the long-term objectives you wish to accomplish. To keep your thoughts organized and establish more focused priorities, think about making separate lists for your personal and professional goals. Once you have your list, you can more accurately evaluate and order them.
2. Identify the most important goals
Choose the objectives on your list that are most crucial to you. Your definition of importance may differ from others’, but it might include the objectives that would most enhance or benefit your life. You can grade each item from one to ten by going through it. Scores between one and ten indicate how important or relevant a goal is to you. A score of one might indicate that the goal isn’t relevant right now. You can quickly determine your priorities using these scores.
3. Assess timelines
Additionally, you can decide when you want to accomplish your goals. For instance, you might want to advance professionally within the next five years. Additionally, you can make reasonable timetables for how long it would take to accomplish these goals. You can estimate that it might take four years to complete a bachelor’s degree, for example. Understanding your priorities can be aided by identifying and evaluating these timelines. You can choose what to begin working on right away based on your timeline.
4. Choose which goals to emphasize
You can combine these factors to prioritize your goals once you’ve determined their importance and timelines. Goals with a high priority and short, attainable deadlines, for instance, can be the ones to handle first. These objectives are advantageous to your current situation, and you can begin them right away. Depending on the time and effort required to complete them, the number of goals you select may change. Prioritize up to five objectives to concentrate on in order to prevent feeling overwhelmed.
5. Make changes as needed
Try to be adaptable as you work toward your goals by changing your priorities as necessary. Your priorities may change over time. You might find that some objectives are easier to accomplish than you initially anticipated, allowing you to change your priorities. The priorities you set may change as a result of changes in your personal or professional lives.
For instance, you might want to advance professionally. However, you might come across a professional whose enthusiasm for their work inspires you, motivating you to set a new objective to change careers into one more in line with your passions. Now you can concentrate on taking the necessary steps to pursue a new career and put less emphasis on getting a promotion at work.
Tips for setting long-term goals
You can use a variety of techniques to create goals, so take into account the following advice as you establish ones for your professional or personal growth:
