Do you panic when someone asks, “What are your long term goals?”

It can feel like a test you’re about to fail, especially if you’re struggling to decide on a direction for the next phase of your life.

Or maybe you have a goal in mind, but it feels too scary to say it out loud. You don’t know if you’re capable of achieving it or if it’s even worth trying.

But there’s a reason this is such a common question in job interviews, family dinners, and even first dates. People want to know you on a deeper level.

Your long term goals say a lot about who you are, where you’re going, and what you value. They are the big dreams that give your life direction and purpose.

And they are worth it.

Keep reading for practical strategies to translate big dreams into achievable goals – including how to keep going through the tough parts.

Originally published on September 23rd, 2019, this article was updated and republished on January 31st, 2023.

Long Term Goals Definition

Long term goals refer to accomplishments that will take significant time, effort, and planning to achieve. They are the delayed-gratification outcome of months or years of focus. These goals can be related to career, relationships, education, or anything you’re inspired to work towards. 

While long term goals require a good deal of time and daily planning to reach them, it is a step-by-step process, involving the completion of smaller goals along the way.

An example of a long-term goal would be becoming an attorney. Along the way, you’ll reach milestones like studying for the LSAT, getting into law school, passing the bar exam, and getting your first job as a lawyer. It’s a process that takes years to achieve.

Goals worth pursuing – the ones that will be most meaningful and fulfilling – begin in the realm of heart dreams. They are the dreams we hold in our hearts that can seem out of reach at first. 

But wishes, hopes, and dreams are always the beginning of any significant transformation. They are the sparks that can grow to fuel real changes in your life.

Long Term Goal Types

Life has many types of goals, big and complex enough to require planning, persistence, and accountability over a long period of time, from several months up to five years.

Now that we’ve established exactly what a long term goal is, let’s take a look at the different types of long term goals, along with some relevant examples.

Career Goals 

Career goals are those that relate to your professional life. This might look like you changing careers, becoming a leader in your field, or starting a business. Even starting a new career at 40 can be a viable goal.

Financial Goals

Financial goals relate to your personal finances and expenses and can take several years to save up for or fully pay off. For example, you might want to buy a house, save for early retirement, or fund your children’s education.

Personal Goals

Personal goals are those that relate to your own development. Traveling the world, finding a life partner, improving your focus, finding your purpose in life, or becoming a badass in something you love doing — like playing guitar, lifting weights, or making comics – are all great examples of personal goals that take time to achieve.

Long Term Goal Examples

• Get your dream job
• Get a promotion
• Transition from being an employee to owning a successful company
• Pay off all your debt
• Build a diversified investment portfolio
• Save for a down payment on a house
• Start a retirement savings plan
• Establish an emergency fund
• Find the right person for you
• Become independent
• Get a university degree
• Fund your children’s education
• Become renowned in your profession
• Travel to at least 10 different countries
• Learn a new language fluently
• Take a sabbatical or gap year
• Start a business or side hustle
• Volunteer regularly in the community
• Build a network of professional contacts
• Win an award or recognition in your field
• Establish a daily meditation or mindfulness practice
• Start a collection of something you’re passionate about
• Learn to play a musical instrument
• Learn to cook a new cuisine
• Go on a yoga retreat or take a yoga teacher training
• Start a podcast or blog
• Go on a volunteer trip abroad
• Write a book or screenplay
• Achieve financial independence and retire early
• Read at least one book per month
• Take a course or class to learn a new skill
• Start a family
• Travel overseas

The difference that makes a dream into a concrete goal is simple. It’s a plan.

By creating a series of short term goals that bring you closer to your destination, your dreams become actionable and achievable.

The Two Keys to Achieving Your Goals

As you pursue the direction of your heart’s calling, you can only reach your long term goal by consistently taking baby steps.

But it’s also important to keep an open mind toward self-discovery.

When it comes to long goals, most people talk about staying really focused on the objectives. While setting objectives is part of it, we also need to leave space for surprising opportunities and breakthroughs.

I call this approach the entrepreneurial two-step, but it’s not just for entrepreneurs. Any new venture can benefit from a combination of goal-setting and an open mind.

1. Setting Tangible Long & Short Term Goals

When pursuing a big dream, defining measurable outcomes makes all the difference. How do you define success?

Here’s how to approach goal setting and get tangible, measurable results:

1. Break your long-term goal into baby steps: You need to know what specific steps to take each day, week, and month to achieve your goals.
2. Establish metrics of success: KPIs (key performance indicators) will help you know when you’re on the right track.

Here’s how it played out in my life.

After 15 years of working in education, I decided to make a transition from an elementary school teacher and reinvent myself in the world of business. 

I had a dream to go down a career track in which I could innovate more than I could while working in a public school system. I understood that much but didn’t necessarily have the clarity of what that end goal would look like.

So I set aspirations and intentions.

I dreamed of having a home office. I created a collage, with visuals and words, to depict that thing I was headed for. I kept the bigger vision as an aspiration to enter my heart and my soul. 

Then I broke down my long term goal into tiny, bite-size pieces. 

First, I needed to enroll in a coach training school. I actually created a calendar of what my schedule would look like. I determined how many classes I needed to take each month in order to graduate. I also picked up classes in project management.

2. Keeping an Open Mind

Throughout my transition, I found that if I stayed too attached to a specific outcome, I sometimes missed the bigger opportunity. And sometimes, the thing that actually gave me a breakthrough happened unexpectedly.

I’ve seen this in my own transitions, and with many of the clients in my coaching practice. We go through a process to answer the big questions of how to find purpose and what direction to take.

But when pursuing personal goals, I like to leave things open. I put aspirations out there and allow time, synchronicity, and circumstance to run its course. 

I truly believe that a lot of the things that have given me satisfaction, that I would chalk up as successes, have come from:

• Having an aspiration 
• Heading in that direction
• Leaving things open

This process allows things that I couldn’t even imagine to show up. Opportunities meet me on my way.

Point your ship in the right direction without going down too many diversions. You can also see what’s coming up in the waves to see where opportunities arise.

It’s good to leave some openness and flexibility, rather than staying too rigid in your pursuit. This approach allows for growth and opportunity in the process of pursuing personal goals. 

Besides helping you take advantage of new opportunities, flexibility gives you a chance to be creative. It’s a key part of staying motivated during a transition, particularly during, what I call the Neutral Zone.

The Neutral Zone: When Motivation Slows Down

Embarking on important personal goals, at first, you may have a burst of motivation driving you. 

But long term goals take time. 

Especially if you’re working on something major, like figuring out how to change careers in midlife.

In the course of working towards goal completion, your motivation will slow down. Sometimes, you don’t get the results you want as quickly as you expect. Other times, things just don’t pan out. Those factors can drag self motivation and stall your progress.

In his book, Managing Transitions, William Bridges explains the Transition Model. It’s a way to navigate these changes successfully, especially when motivation slows down. 

At first, when embarking on a change, you face an ending. You feel the pain of loss for what you’re leaving behind, or the joy of getting unstuck. 

As you move through the ending, you find yourself in “No Man’s Land,” or the neutral Zone. You may feel:

• Numb
• Lost
• Frightened
• Unbalanced

Guess what? This is normal!

The neutral zone is a place of ambiguity. You haven’t quite ended all the ending. You haven’t quite begun all the beginning. In between, it takes time for the transition to occur.

Five Strategies to Navigate the Neutral Zone

Herminia Ibarra’s Working Identity explains ways to keep moving through the neutral zone:

• Keep learning: Stay in the mode of taking in new information and adjusting your knowledge base.
• Create: Keep the internal pathways fluid by continually having “juice in your veins.” With creativity, at any given moment, you are fueled for innovation.
• Have a mentor or sounding board (coach): Don’t go about things alone. Have someone on your team to provide perspective and balance. 
• Have the willingness to take risks: In other words, be willing to step out of your comfort zone and into something that might not fly.
• Don’t give up: PERSIST! Persistence plays a crucial role during the neutral zone in actualizing long term goals. Keep trying, keep moving, and keep going. Don’t succumb to impostor syndrome or other forms of self-doubt.

With persistence, you will make it through the neutral zone and enter a new beginning. 

Yes, you can feel a few twinges from the ending, and a little bit of the numbness from the neutral zone. However, you will start to experience the excitement of a new beginning, and your motivation will come roaring back to life.

Over time, the sadness of ending, and feelings of insecurity from the neutral zone will fade away.

Your new beginning has become your new normal. The goals are achieved. The change is complete!

Ready to begin pursuing your goals?

Remember this:

No matter what, you’ll benefit from having an intention and a goal in sight while ALSO leaving space open.

That means you don’t have to nail everything to a plan or a project map. Instead, you can allow discovery so the unexpected can occur. In that way, you’ll achieve long term goals in ways you could never imagine.

The post How to Define and Achieve Your Long Term Goals appeared first on SoulSalt.