Updated Sep. 22, 2019.  Originally published Jan. 22, 2013.

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Goal management may seem like a complicated or intimidating concept, but it’s not that difficult if you just take it step-by-step.  Keep reading to find out how you can effectively pursue your own household and/or personal goals and dreams!

What is a Goal?

A goal is something you want to accomplish.  In order to be useful, though, it needs to be specific, measurable, and achievable within the time frame you set.  (Or Definable, Doable, and with a Deadline.)  Most goals will become projects, as well, as part of the process of meeting them.  But their function is a bit different from projects.

A project is simply a process of multiple steps to complete an action/activity.

A goal, on the other hand, is more like a vision of where you want to get to.

So the goal is more like the destination and the project is the journey.

Setting goals regularly will help you keep a “big picture” in mind of what you want to accomplish, who you want to be, and where you want to go.  Then you can create projects from those goals to be sure you get there.

Setting Goals

STEP 1: Make a list of all of the areas/functions/roles in your life.

In other words, you want to know in what areas you need goals.  Mom goals?  Wife goals?  Personal interest goals?  Financial goals?  Spiritual Goals?  etc.  Most of us will have some areas of overlap, but our lives are all different, and our lists might not look exactly the same.

STEP 2: In each of those areas, consider where you want to be 10 years from now.  Write it down.

STEP 3: In each of those areas, consider where you want to be 5 years from now.  Write it down.  (Most of these will probably be partway points between where you are and what you wrote down for 10 years.)

STEP 4: In each of those areas, consider where you want to be 1 year from now.  Write it down.  (Many of these will probably be partway points between where you are and what you wrote down for 5 years.)

STEP 5: In each of those areas, consider where you want to be 1 month from now.  Write it down.  (Many of these will probably be partway points between where you are and what you wrote down for 1 year.)

I have found, for myself, that the longer-term goals are likely to be stair-steps from the “closer” ones to the “farther off” ones.  But as you get in closer and closer, some of them are and some of them are more “freestanding” items.

Now, the question is, are these items specific, measurable, and achievable within the time frame?  Let’s consider them one-by-one and see.

Evaluating Goals

STEP 6: Evaluate your goals for precision and measurability.

Specific and measurable tend to go together.  Look at each goal you’ve written down, one at a time, and ask yourself if it’s specific and measurable.  If not, consider how you might adjust it so it is.  Or how you might accomplish the intended end with a more specific action.

For example, “grow spiritually” is something many of us want.  But that’s really vague.  How will you know at the end of the designated time whether you have “grown spiritually”?  Could you, instead, set a goal of some spiritual discipline that should, as a consequence, produce spiritual growth?  “Read the entire Bible.” “Have quiet time 28 days or more out of every month.” That sort of thing.  Those are specific and measurable, so you will know that you either did or did not achieve them.

Achievable is a little trickier.  It will vary from person to person.  My 10-year-old wanted to set as a goal to read the entire Bible this year.  I think that’s a bit much for her at this point.  But it’s definitely an achievable goal for many people!  “Read the entire Bible,” on the other hand, is probably not an achievable goal for most people this month.  (It would require you have sufficient time available, which some people do, but the majority of us do not.)

In some cases, you will be guessing, with the understanding that you may need to tweak a bit down the road, and that’s okay, too.  Just give yourself room to do that.  To use my 1o-year-old as an example again, she wanted to set a goal of reading a particular number of books this year.  We really have no idea what’s a good number to “stretch” her while still being achievable.  So we had to pick a largely random number.  It’s perfectly fine to do that, as long as you’re aware that’s what you’re doing so you don’t get discouraged when you have to adjust it later.

STEP 7: Decide where to “store” these lists.

Your goals will serve you  better if you read them periodically, to remind yourself what it is you want to accomplish.  Where do you need them, in order to do this?  (And if you’re like me, you need to read your yearly/monthly goals pretty regularly, but the longer-term ones not quite so often.)

STEP 8: Make a note to review your shorter-term goals (and the long-term ones if you choose to) when you review your project list.

Like your project list, you will want to evaluate your goals list periodically and ask yourself what you need to do to work toward them.  Do you need to create a project for a goal? Do you need to add a task to the task list?  This should be part of your regular review, so be sure that “review goals” is on your list of routines somewhere.

Moving On

At this point, we have finished most of the “basics” of personal time management/household management.  Next week we’ll begin working with the organization of various types of “information” that accumulate within a household, starting with recipes and similar kitchen paperwork.

If you’re just stumbling across this, please click here for the other posts in the series.