Where Are You Going? 9 Goal Setting Categories You Need to Address

If you don’t know where you want to end up in 5, 10, or 25 years, how are you supposed to get there?  Goal setting is one of the most important aspects of one’s life, both personal and professional.  Wikipedia.com defines a goal as “a desired result a person envisions, plans, and commits to achieve.”

I recently decided that goals should be the next topic under our Professional Portfolio’s.  I’ll be honest, I had trouble defining my goals at first, so I searched the Internet to help me define a structure for goal setting.  I came across MindTools.com that had a webpage on Personal Goal Setting.  They identified 9 categories that helped me (and will help you) define my goals:

1. Career

To be the Chief Operating Officer of a large corporation or a business administration professor at our local university.

2. Financial

To earn enough money throughout my life to be financially comfortable and be able to buy the luxuries in life.

3. Education

To earn my MBA, acquire advanced certifications, and later earn a Ph.D. to help achieve my career goals.

4. Family

To get married to the woman I love, start a family, respect my parents, and be there for my younger siblings.

5. Artistic

To dig deeper into my passion for photography and digital media.

6. Attitude

To live life positively, be respectful of others, and attempt to help others achieve their goals.

7. Physical

To choose lower sodium food alternatives and exercise regularly to reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

8. Pleasure

To take time to experience the joys in life, take vacations, and do the things I love to do.

9. Public Service

To be mindful of the environment and preserve this world so future generations can enjoy life the way I have.

Please remember that this list is not all inclusive.  You can add categories to it if you prefer and I encourage you to do so.  You may also think that some of these categories don’t apply to you.  I know I had trouble setting an artistic goal, since I don’t find myself to be very artistic.  I advise you to dig deep and really try to solidify some kind of goal for each of these categories.  Don’t forget, goals can change over time and, in fact, they should.

So what are your goals?  Take some time to think about that and then add them to your Professional Portfolio like I did.

Image Credit

Webpage Credit:

Goal – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal Goal Setting – Goal Setting Tools from MindTools.com