In today’s blog, I have decided to focus on pursuing goals. As I write the final couple of chapters of my second book:’ A different world of school’, I continue to remind myself what I want to gain from my writing and those small daily goals on which I should focus. Today, for example, my target was to write this blog, whereas tomorrow, I will aim to write a couple of pages of the first draft of my book. Long- term goals and short- term goals do not just refer to writing but to anything; I hope, therefore, that you will find this blog useful.
Fortunately I have always been a highly driven individual but often, I have questioned what I wanted to achieve out of life. An important thing that I have developed with practice, is to write down what my goals are. Writing really does help crystalize our thoughts. By reading many self-help books, I have been able to develop good habits, in order to follow my goals. It is important that my goals are achievable and realistic rather than those which put unnecessary pressure on me.
It is probably easier to give examples of the above paragraph, showing what I have set in contrast to what I could have set:
· Writing – continuing to enjoy writing and publishing books (as opposed to a goal of selling millions of copies of a book. This would be great to do but realistically, this would take time and put a lot of pressure on me).
· My day job / career in project management – have a good work /life balance with a job I enjoy that gives me sufficient challenge (as opposed to having a very well- paid job and seeking promotion every few months)
· Social (building relationships with others) – making an effort to attend social events and socialise with others, even if I have different viewpoints to certain individuals (as opposed to everyone loving me – this would never happen and no matter how much effort you make, you are not always going to get on with everyone in life)
· Health and fitness – maintain a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise and good nutrition, allowing myself occasional treats at weekends (as opposed to eating healthily all the time and never being ill)
· Football (my favourite leisure activity) – put in the best effort I can and enjoy playing (as opposed to being the best player in every game or scoring 50 goals a season).
I set myself daily goals in order to achieve these long term objectives, writing in my journal on a daily basis. As I mentioned earlier for writing, I might try to write a couple of pages one day, or work on marketing strategies the next day. Another example could be of a social nature, when I might ask someone to whom I rarely speak, how their weekend has been.
Now I know you must all be thinking that I am slightly mad, in terms of setting goals, long term goals and writing things down in a journal daily. However, in response, I would answer that I find writing a great way of keeping track of what you want to achieve in life and on a daily basis, of helping you pursue goals. In our daily lives, we all have millions of thoughts and millions of distractions and so writing down goals and targets is a great way of focusing on what we want to achieve and how we can do this.
I hope that you find this useful, especially in your everyday life. As with any of my blogs, feel free to contact me.
Now I am back from my holiday in the United States of America, I feel refreshed and eager to finalise my second book. I look forward to writing more about this in my next blog.
Jonny Pardoe
Jonny Pardoe © October 2016
Photo by Eneko Uruñuela on Unsplash
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Jonny Pardoe
