Long Term Goals and Short Term Goals.. There is a Difference

We've all made goals at some point in our lives. Some goals we accomplish, some we are still working on achieving, and some are tossed aside in frustration. This has to be the best definition of the majority of the goals I've tried to complete in the past. That's because I was missing some very important information about goals. I had to discover the big difference between long term and short term goals. The difference is so big that they cannot even be listed together on the Great To-Do List.

Long term goals are more like the overall way we wish to live our lives. These goals serve as a destination that could never be finalized. They are something we can always be working on. For instance, my long term goals fall along the lines of:

personal growth
being optimistic
being honest
living a healthy life
having fun
being creative

Your list may be entirely different from mine. The idea here is to have your long term goals reflect your top ten life values. Steve Pavlina has a posted an extensive list of values that I find incredibly useful for figuring out my own values. Once you've narrowed your list down to ten values, you can them turn them into long term goals.

Your short term goals are going to be the ones that help you live out your long term goals. For instance, I wish to live a creative life. So no matter what short term goals I choose, I should try to add some creativity to everything I do. Therefore, one of my short term goals could be learing to paint on canvas or I could learn to act on Broadway. Those are just two ways in which I could live creatively. Obviously, there are numerous ways to achieve that lifestyle and live out that specific long term goal.

Through the separation of long term and short term goals, I am able to create the life experiences I desire. My short term goals will act as my means to my long term goal ends. I want my short term goals to allow me to look back over my life and show how I've accomplished living out my values. I will allow my short term goals to serve as my life experiences that allow me to live out long term goals everyday.

I'm ready to shape my life into what I want it to be and take full control. To do that, I know I must not only choose my long and short term goals, but I must follow through as well. What are your short term and long term goals? What would you like to see when you look back over the span of your life?