Examples of Long Term Goals

Do you feel as if you are winging it through life or do you have a concrete plan that you have in place to get you where you want to be? The reality is that expecting to get what you want without creating a roadmap to get you there is likely to end in failure. This is why we came up with some examples of long term goals that can help you plan for the future.

When you have a vision of what you would like to achieve in your life it can really help you to focus on taking the right steps to get the results you want. Aimlessly reacting to situations is never going to get the right results unless you happen to be incredibly lucky. Instead, taking proactive steps to reach your goals is a far more sensible option of getting results. Here are some examples of long term goals that you can start to use as a baseline for creating your best life.

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Educational and Academic Goals

Depending on how old you are and where you are in your life will determine what you are planning for your education. Start to think ahead of the qualifications that you might need to get where you want to be in life. If you have never read Chris Hadfield’s An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth then we suggest you do to see how dedicated this man was to achieving his goals of going into space.

Christ spent years gaining the right qualifications and experience to become an astronaut. He was a man on a mission to make his dreams a reality. Read it and ask yourself what might you need to do to make your thoughts come true.

Examples of long term goals where education or academia are concerned might include:

Gaining a Degree – This might be the baseline that is an essential springboard for you to enter the right companies or the field you would like to be in.

Gaining an Advanced Qualification – Once you have completed a degree perhaps you might consider a masters degree or even a PhD especially if you are considering working in a research field or university environment.

Professional Qualifications – Do you need professional qualifications to get where you need to be? That might include accountancy qualifications, legal expertise or even marketing. These extra qualifications are essentials in some fields as without them you are not able to practice.

Vocational Qualifications – You don’t need a degree to do many jobs. If you are dreaming of becoming a hairdresser, or a carpenter or even a car mechanic gaining hands-on experience is essential. Do you need any of these to achieve your goals?

Additional Skills – There are many additional skills that are incredibly useful to learn depending on where you want to be. These could be learning a foreign language, developing website skills, learning photography or even design which may be useful in your particular field. Work out which ones you might need for where you want to go in your life.

Are you stuck trying to decide what choices you should make? Fiske Guide to colleges can help you make that crucial decision about where you should go and what you should study especially when you are starting out.

Long Term Career Goals

Once you have started in your career then what happens next? Many people don’t think they need to plan their careers but in fact, this is usually crucial if you want to realise your greater potential. Here are some examples of long term goals when it comes to thinking about what you want out of your career.

Employed or Self-Employed? – Start to think whether your goal is to be employed by someone or whether you would prefer to work for yourself? There is a big difference between the two and it depends on your attitude to risk and your entrepreneurial skills. Self-employment means that you will never have to answer to a boss but you are ultimately responsible for what you earn.

The company – If you are working for someone else your goal should be to work for a company that you enjoy being at. You spend far too much time at work to not actually enjoy what you do. Resolve to work for the best company you can where you feel valued and appreciated.

Do you specialise or generalise? -Think about whether you are interested in working in a specialised area or whether you are more interested in generalised work. Specialised work makes you an expert in your field but if also may narrow down the career opportunities you may have in the future.

How long are you prepared to stay in a role for? – Think about how long you would like to stay in a role for. Are you prepared to spend five years or more between each promotion or are you hoping to move up the ladder every couple of years? Determine what is realistic and stick to it so you don’t become stuck in a dead-end job.

How much money do you want to earn? – This is always the interesting one because of course, most people want to make their fortune but how many people actually do in the long term? Would your chosen career allow you to earn as much as you would like? What are your real dreams and aspirations? If you want a big mansion with a pool and four or five holidays a year you need to understand that very few corporate jobs will get you that lifestyle which means you may need to start working for yourself.

What level are you hoping to get to? Finally, think about what level you want to reach. CEO, senior manager, partner or something else? Higher up is not always better especially when it comes to your work/life balance. Weigh up your needs and wants to decide what would work for you. Sometimes earning just that little bit less is well worth it for the extra hours you claw back for yourself and your family.

It is well worth reading Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. They show you how to start to plan out your life to get what you want whilst maintaining good balance.

Long Term Health and Fitness Goals

Examples of long term goals certainly include looking after your health and fitness. It is absolutely no good being wealthy and in a great career if your health suffers because of it. Obviously the goals that you choose will depend on your starting point, your age, disabilities and overall general health. Here are some good ones to shoot for.

Having a Good BMI – If you are overweight and have a high BMI over the recommended levels then it makes sense to make it your long term goal to get back into your correct zone. This is a long term goal, not a short term one. Losing weight too fast is not sustainable and whilst it may get you results in the short term it rarely lasts and you start yo-yo dieting. Aim to change your lifestyle and eat a balanced diet. Learn about intuitive eating instead of dieting and you will eventually get to where you need to be.

Address Your Strength and Muscle Mass – Working on your muscles and exercising with weights is important for a number of different reasons. Having more muscle mass makes it easier for you to lose weight but it also helps your bone density. This is especially important for women as they get older to protect them from osteoporosis. Make it a long term goal to continue working on your muscle mass to keep you fit, healthy and strong.

Get Good Sleep – If there was one thing I wished all my clients would pay attention to it is their sleep. A lack of good sleep impacts your weight, your stress and anxiety levels, it makes you more likely to drink too much and it impacts your overall general health. Forget what people say about you can sleep when you are dead. You need to get good sleep now to protect your overall health. Make it your long term goal to build up to eight hours sleep a night. If you do have a problem switching off in the evening use our guided meditation for sleep to help you switch off your mind and relax.

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Drink less Alcohol – We work with our clients to help them moderate their drinking. Too many people are drinking far too much every night as a way of switching off from stress. If you are one of those people who is drinking a bottle or more of wine a night then think about starting a program to lower how much you are drinking each day. Your long term goal should be to drink no more than the government guidelines each day. Use our Drink Less Alcohol worksheets to help track what you are drinking each day and take back control of what you should be using.

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Long Term Financial Goals

Examples of long term goals also include financial considerations. Money, of course, doesn’t buy you happiness but it can make your life a hell of a lot more comfortable. It makes sense to think of these when you are planning your finances for the future.

Owning a House – Owning your own property that makes you safe and secure is a great long term goal. Just be careful to think about how much of a mortgage you want and how soon you can own the property outright. Big mortgages can be a millstone around your neck. Paying them back can lead to sleepless nights and worry. Buy what you can comfortably afford and that still gives you enough money to enjoy life as well. Plan to pay back the mortgage faster when you can for more financial freedom.

Savings and Investments – Keeping money for a rainy day is important because you never know what life may throw at you. Make it a goal to invest or save enough money to help you deal with any challenges that may arise when you least expect them. When savings rates are low you can think about other investments which have a better return. Just make sure you are aware of the risk/reward returns.

Pension – Now this is really a long term goal but having a good pension is important. When you are a pensioner do you want to be going on holiday and enjoying your hobbies or worrying about every penny you are spending? Make sure that you start putting money into a great pension scheme now so that when you come to retire you have a savings pot that will keep you in the life you have become accustomed to until the day that you die.

Want to really tear up the rule book? Grant Sabatier has written a best selling book called Financial Freedom that makes you look at your finances in a completely different way. He tells you how to do things differently so you are no longer living from paycheck to paycheck.

Personal Goals in Life

Examples of long term goals also include personal goals that are unique to you. Not every person will want what you do out of life so we have just put some examples of some of the usual goals that people strive for.

Having a Supportive and Loving Partner – If you don’t currently have a partner at the moment that might be something that you can start to plan for in the future. Most people want someone that they can share their lives with and who make them feel happy and secure. Make sure that you don’t settle for someone who makes you feel bad about yourself just because they are there. Remind yourself that you are worth more than you know and you deserve someone who loves and supports you.

Travelling the World – Travel is a great personal goal for many people. This may be visiting specific countries or to simply see as many places as you can. Start to set yourself a goal of where you want to go. How many places would you like to visit each year and how will you be able to afford to go to them. Save your money for a big trip that takes you on the holiday of a lifetime. Travelling broadens your horizons, allows you to experience other cultures and changes how you think.

Stuck about where to go? Check out National Geographics Destinations of a Lifetime and start planning your trips.

Improve Your Emotional Intelligence – How you interact with other people is important both in your work and in your private life. Learn to build emotional intelligence over time will make a difference in your life and those you interact with. Having a high EQ is just as important as your IQ as you tend to be more adaptable and capable of dealing with pressures and change more easily.

Lead a Holistic Lifestyle – Have you ever looked at the bigger picture when it comes to how you live? Most people don’t but when you do it can be a real eye-opener. Our examples of long term goals list have to include living holistically as a goal because this will make you happier and healthier. Rome wasn’t built in a day as the saying goes but do start to examine your sleep, nutrition, your spiritual needs, your stress levels and your purpose in life. Finding a balance is the key to a long happy life.

Social Goals

Finally, last but not least let’s talk about some examples of long term goals related to your interaction with the outside world. Leading a solitary lifestyle isn’t always great for your happiness so it makes sense to focus on making sure that you are a well-rounded individual and interact well with others.

Having a Good Mix of Friends – Consider the people that you currently hang out with and think about making it a long term goal to create a good mixture of friends. Each of your friends may be wonderful in their own way but not every friend is exactly the same. Some may be a shoulder to lean on in a crisis, others may be fun and outgoing whilst others help to bring out your intelligence and cultural side. Having a good social life is a great way of preventing loneliness and helps you to see things from different viewpoints.

Giving Back to Your Community – What could you do in the longer term to help others in your community? Can you see yourself volunteering, teaching others or working at a charity? Think in the long term how you can use your talents to help others who are less fortunate than you. Remember that a project that you start today could have a huge impact on others in the future.