Don't be vague.

The best goal is one that is achievable and well defined. Not only is it hard to make progress towards a vague goal, but it is also hard to know if or when you've ever completed it. "When goals are specific, it provides clear direction for effort and increases the ... ability to monitor its progress and stay on track." (Project Leadership: From Theory to Practice) Here are some examples of goals that are too vague: exercise more, meet more people, work harder so the boss will give me a bonus, or read more books. These are not very good goals because they don't include any specific details. Ideally, goals should be very detailed and describe exactly what is necessary in order to accomplish them. For example, a specific goal would be: run 20 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work.

Make your goals achievable.

If your goals are impossible to reach you are setting yourself up for failure. Not everyone can be the next president or Olympic gold medalist. If you have the skills necessary to do those things then by all means make them your goals, but for the vast majority of us this isn't the case. Instead, you should choose goals that are reasonably difficult yet achievable. "When the goals are difficult, there is a greater sense of pride and satisfaction in successful performance." (Project Leadership: From Theory to Practice) Choose things that you will have to work hard for in order to complete but be sure that they are not so hard that it will be at the expense of something else you really enjoy. Ultimately the harder the goal the better you will feel about yourself after you complete it; however, even the culmination of a number of smaller goals can be a large achievement.

Short Term vs Long Term

Not all goals are created equal. Some you may be able to complete in a matter of days and others may take several years. However, it is helpful to have both types of goals in order to keep up your momentum. Moreover, you can even break a long term goal into smaller, short term goals so that it is easier to measure success. Deciding to run a marathon in 6 months is a worthy aspiration but you may want to accomplish it with several smaller goals of training and running increased distances over the time interval leading up to that marathon. Additionally, breaking a long term goal down into several small term goals helps you to monitor your progress better. Small checkpoints along the way in a long term goal assist you in figuring out both what really helps you to make progress as well as what is slowing down your progress. Paying attention to these two things at each checkpoint and modifying your schedule accordingly will vastly increase your time efficiency in accomplishing your long term goals.

"Goals - The Devil Is in the Details" is part 2 of 3 of the "Goals" miniseries.
Go back to part 1: Goals - Know Your Goals in All Aspects of Life
Continue to part 3: Goals - Ensure a Reward for a Job Well Done

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