Do you have goals or a life plan?

[GodolphianArabian]

So training session at work focussing on goals and assessing our abilities in terms of teamwork, communication etc.

I realised I don't have goals well not in the way the bloke running the session envisaged. I mean I have a to-do list but it's things like pay nursery, clean kids rooms, take stuff to tip and carries on like this for a full page. At work I have work based to-do lists.

So am I missing out here? Should I have short, medium and long term goals? Would my life improve? Or is it a load of guff that keeps blokes like this employed.

I am a stationary addict and look endlessly at wonderful journals/planners etc, but I can never get my head around the goals section.

When I think about it, my goal is to get through each day. This resets every day. I realise how utterly rubbish that is but can’t think beyond that.

I might get piled on for saying this but the people I know who set goals tend to be people who haven't really faced any real adversity e.g. illness, poverty etc.
Everything mainly seems to go to plan in their lives and they don't get thrown any curve balls that scupper their plans.

@flashbac it depends what you mean by goals, if you take it literally as I "I will earn £50k by 25, own a house by 27" yes I can see what you mean. But goals come in a variety of formats and aren't verbalised by everyone, no one would have a clue what I'm trying to achieve by when or how, I've been thrown some large curveballs but hasn't thrown me of my course, if anything it's made me all the more determined.

I don’t think it’s so much curveballs, though stuff like that can shake your confidence and make you less likely to set and achieve certain goals, but I do think if the situation you are in means that you are in survival mode and all your energy is used just getting through each day, then you just aren’t going to have the mental space to plan for the future or work on any long term goals.

@SpuriouserAndSpuriouser sometimes survival mode is the best mode to be in to motivate, look at JK Rowling. I think sometimes being comfortable can be harder to make goals and work towards them, too easy to become complacent.

This will bring the mood of the thread down, but whenever my depression gets so bad I entertain suicide goals are what keep me alive - thinking I can't actually die without doing this or that.

I have short term goals related to studying (increasing my average scores, managing to pay attention for a little longer than last time), and some medium term goals: get involved with a laboratory, get a research grant.

My only long term goal is to emigrate, and while it is long term, there are plenty of steps to it I am doing all the time: getting an EU citizenship and everything it requires, making sure I am as educated as I can be so I don't struggle as much to find a job, etc.

If you don't feel the need of goals, though, I wouldn't worry.

I have tried to set goals in the past, but haven't always been very good at sticking to them. However, I did succeed in meeting my objective of paying off my mortgage last year, and I'm very glad that I did it.

I think I'm in need of some new goals now, as I'm lacking a bit of direction. Just need to spend a bit of time thinking about what they should be.

Neither, I just take each day as it comes, sometimes make a short term plan or goal, but not often.

I know where I would like to be in 3-5 years time and am working towards this with a careers coach. I felt stuck in a role for 10 years and lost a lot of confidence in my ability to perform at a senior level.

Now, I am focused, I put myself forward even when it is challenging. I can see the changes in how I view myself and the way in which others perceive me.

Stay married and childfree.

Continue to travel the world.

Finish/publish my book (I’m a FT blogger).

So am I missing out here? Should I have short, medium and long term goals?

I don't think you have to name them as such, but I expect we all have something at the back of our minds, while some people have explicit plans and goals and that makes you think you are missing out.

My only real plan is to pay off my mortgage asap (medium term).
I guess that boils down into short term (live within my means each week) and long term (have the security behind me to enable freedom in my 50s, 60s and beyond)