Goal setting is a great motivator, as well as a key ingredient for effectively managing time and tracking accomplishments. Goals are normally categorized as short term, medium term, and long term, depending on the amount of time required or available to reach them. They can include any number of specific tasks to be completed, and oftentimes overlap.
- Short term goals
Short term goals are tasks that you intend to complete on a daily basis, or within a day or two. Things like reading and answering all your emails, returning phone calls, and attending meetings or appointments would be examples of short term goals. Short term goals can also be tasks which are a part of medium and long term goals.
- Medium term goals
Medium term goals require a little more time to complete, typically from a week to a month, and depending on the nature and complexity of the goal, they are usually broken down in to individual tasks or short term goals in order to accomplish them. A company’s accounting cycle is a good example of this. For any given month the books must be finalized at the end of the month (medium term goal), but certain tasks are required to be done daily (short term goal). Medium term goals can also be tasks which are a part of long term goals.
- Long term goals
Long term goals are major undertakings with timeframes of a few months, to a year, to a few years, or more. They will always be broken down in to smaller pieces, creating both medium and short term goals, as well as other long term goals. Building a new office space or manufacturing plant would be a long term goal, with many tasks to be completed and goals to reach along the way.
A big part of success is knowing what you need to do to get there. Goal setting is a part of this