Making a decision is the first step toward accomplishing a goal. Let’s say you decide to buy a new bike; that’s your goal, the thing you want to accomplish. To reach that goal, you need a plan. How will you make money to pay for your new bike? What will you do with your old bike?
There are two kinds of goals: short-term and long-term. In addition, goals can change when your life circumstances change. Learn more in the table below. Click on each term to see a definition and examples.
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Short-term Goal
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A short-term goal can be reached in a short period of time, like a few days or weeks. An example would be setting a goal to be able to do 10 push-ups.
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Long-term Goal
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A long-term goal takes a long time to reach, sometimes years. An example of a long-term goal would be to learn a martial art, like karate or judo. Long-term goals are sometimes hard to accomplish because they require a lot of effort over a long period of time.
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Changing Goals
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Both short- and long-term goals can vary because of changes in your abilities, priorities, or responsibilities. For example, if you can now easily do 10 push-ups, it’s probably time to revise your goal to challenge yourself. Or maybe you have a long-term goal of being selected for the Olympic karate team. When you find out how many hours per day you would have to practice, you realize that your priorities of doing well in school and having a social life are more important than your Olympic dream. Maybe you have a goal of preparing a healthy dinner each evening, but you are having to work lots of overtime. You can revise your goal by keeping healthy frozen dinners on hand so that you don’t have to prepare a whole meal every night.
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Sunil sets a goal of practicing the piano for one hour every day. He has stuck to his goal for three months, but now it’s soccer season. Sunil wants to join the soccer team. How could Sunil revise his goal about practicing the piano?
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| Answers will vary. Sunil could set a goal to practice the piano for 3 hours per week during soccer season. He could go back to practicing 1 hour per day the rest of the year. |
