Life Evaluation
Identify what’s not working in your life so you know what to change. You likely have areas in your life where you feel unfulfilled, but that's a fixable problem. Ask yourself if you’re using your talents fully and if you’re making an impact. Additionally, figure out the things that trigger envy, sadness and regret in your life. Chances are, you feel like you’re lacking in these areas. For example, maybe you feel like your current job doesn’t really challenge you or your personal life feels empty. If you're always stressed about money, you might want to focus on changing your finances by earning more or spending less. If you find yourself envying your friends’ vacation pictures, maybe it’s time you start planning a trip. Similarly, if you regret not finishing your degree, it could be time to go back to school.
Define your core values in life. Living your life according to your values can help you feel fulfilled and full of purpose. To figure out your values, examine how you spend your time and what makes you happiest. Alternatively, think about 3 people you admire and figure out why you hold them in high esteem. You could also review a list of values and check off which ones matter most to you. Core values include things like honesty, loyalty, family, freedom, compassion, creativity, nature, accomplishment, and success. For instance, you might value helping people, expressing your creativity, being honest, and working hard. You can find a core values checklist here: https://www.cmu.edu/career/documents/my-career-path/values-exercise.pdf
Track how you’re currently spending your time. Your time is valuable, so spend it building a life you love. To figure out where your time goes now, write down your daily activities and how much time you spend doing each thing. Then, calculate how much time you’re spending on activities that don’t fit your values. For instance, you might use your phone to take notes about what you do and how long you spend doing it for an entire week. Go over the notes at the end of the week to see where you might make changes. You might write down things like, “Got ready for work,” “Worked,” “Watched TV,” “Made/Ate dinner,” “Cleaned the kitchen,” “Watched a Movie,” and Went to bed.”
Imagine how you want your life to be in the future. You deserve to be happy, so picture your future self living your ideal life. Decide where you'd like to live, what career or passion you want, how you'll spend your free time, and who you want around you. Identify where you want to be in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years. Use this vision to give you direction for where you want to go in life. For instance, you might imagine yourself in 5 years living in a new home, working in a job where you help people, coming home to a cat and a loving partner, and pursuing a creative hobby, such as knitting or painting. Similarly, you may visualize yourself with a loving partner, a brood of children, and a home bakery. In your free time, you might play games with your children and go to yoga classes. On the other hand, you may picture yourself traveling the world as a photographer and living a nomadic life. When you're not traveling, you might connect with family and friends and do crossword puzzles.
Ask your friends and family to support the changes you want to make. You don’t have to go after your dreams by yourself. You might even be more successful if you have support. Try working alongside a partner so you can hold each other accountable. As an alternative, tell your friends or family about your goals and ask them to support you. You might tell your friends and family, “I want to change my eating habits for the better. When we go out, can we go to a restaurant with healthy options?” “I’m starting a business to sell my paintings. Would you mind sharing my business page to help get the word out?” or "I'm trying to save money. When we hang out, can we stick to free or cheap activities?" Consider asking someone you admire to be your mentor. They can provide you guidance and support.
Goal-Setting Tips
Set SMARTER goals to help you create the life you want. Achieving your goals can be really hard, but setting SMARTER goals increases your chances of success. SMARTER is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound, evaluated, and re-adjusted. Identify goals based on your ideal life and core values. Then, revise them to make them SMARTER. Let’s say you want to buy a house. A SMARTER goal might be, “I will put $200 of each paycheck into a savings account for a downpayment for a house.” It’s specific because it gives a clear action. It’s measurable because you can track the money. It’s achievable because it’s a reasonable amount. It’s relevant because your goal is to buy a home. And it’s time-bound because it happens each paycheck. You can make sure it’s evaluated and re-adjusted by revisiting your goal periodically, such as once every 6 months. If you want a new job, a SMARTER goal could be, "I will apply to 5 jobs every week until I get hired." It's specific because it focuses on an action you can control. It's measurable because you can count out how many applications you send. It's achievable because it only includes behaviors you control. It's relevant because you can't get a job unless you apply for one. It's time-bound because you're doing it every week. You can also review your goal monthly to evaluate and re-adjust it.
Make a visual representation of your goals. Put your goals front and center with a visual reminder. Just write down your goals if you want to keep it simple. If you're artsy, create illustrations for your goals. Place your creation where you'll see it every day. Try one of these ideas: Make a vision board with photos from the Internet or magazines. Write down your goals using colorful pens or markers. Draw symbols of your goals, like a typewriter for writing every day, athletic shoes for working out, or a house for moving to a new home.
Break down your goals into smaller steps. A big goal can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to do everything at once. Instead, break up your goal into smaller steps that are easier to accomplish. Create steps that are manageable so you can easily check them off your to-do list. Let’s say your goal is to run a marathon. You might create steps like, “walk/run a mile,” “run a mile,” “run a 5K,” “walk/run a half-marathon,” “run a half-marathon,” “walk/run 20 miles,” “run 20 miles,” “walk/run a marathon,” “run a marathon.” You might also have a job-related goal, such as becoming a chef. Your steps might include, “get a degree/certification,” “get an entry-level job at a restaurant,” “get a mentor,” “develop my own style/techniques,” and “apply for promotions at work.” Let's say your goal is to improve your finances. Your steps might include, "create a budget," "transfer $100 to my savings account each month," "ask for a raise," and "open an investment account." The sooner you take the first step toward a goal, the easier it will be to motivate yourself to keep going.
Develop strategies to overcome obstacles. Everyone encounters setbacks in life, so don’t worry if you hit a roadblock. To help you stay on track, anticipate the things that might get in your way. Then, brainstorm ideas for dealing with them. For instance, let’s say you want to start your own business. You might worry that lack of time and distractions like your favorite TV shows will hold you back. As a solution, you could try getting up early to work on your business. This way you’ll get the work done right away in the morning, and you won’t have to change your evening TV habits. Similarly, you might want to follow a budget. You may worry about obstacles like holiday shopping, unexpected expenses, and dinners out with friends. You could handle these obstacles by creating an expense line in your budget for holiday shopping, as well as one for extra expenses. Additionally, you might talk to your friends about choosing less expensive activities.
Revise goals over time so they stay relevant for you. Sometimes you start pursuing a goal but realize it's not for you. It's okay to change your mind and switch directions when this happens. Evaluate your goals at set intervals, such as monthly, quarterly, every 6 months, or once a year. If your current goals aren't working for you, go ahead and revise them or replace them with a new goal. For example, your goal might be to work for yourself. However, you might discover that you hate running your own business. Since your goal isn't working for you, set a new career goal. Similarly, maybe you always dreamed of running a marathon, but you find that you get bored after 30 minutes of running. It’s okay to change your goal to running a 5k instead. Maybe you wanted to aggressively pay down your debt, so you put yourself on a strict budget. If you're really unhappy, however, you might decide to take a little longer to pay back your debt or could try earning a little extra money so your budget is more flexible.
Let go of things that interfere with your goals. Chances are, you have time-wasters and clutter that aren’t in line with your goals. There’s nothing wrong with doing things that make you happy, but try cutting out activities, possessions, or even people who are holding you back in life. Eliminate anything that’s interfering with your goals. For example, excess clutter in your kitchen might make it harder to make healthy meals. Similarly, clutter might prevent you from working out at home or pursuing a hobby. Clean out the clutter so you have space to live the life you want. If you have a friend who always bashes your dreams, you might spend less time with them. If you waste time watching too much TV, scrolling on your phone, or window-shopping online, consider repurposing this time for something productive.
Ways to Take Action
Make small changes at first so they’re easy to do. You probably want fast results, but big sweeping changes usually don't last. Instead, challenge yourself to spend a little time every day working on your goal. In time, these changes will become habits. Once your new habits feel second nature, take another small step toward your goal. Let’s say your goal is to start working out 5 times a week. You might start by taking a 15-minute walk after work every day. Once this becomes a habit, you could expand to a 30-minute walk. Next, you might try other exercises. Similarly, you might want to write a novel. Start by writing for 15 minutes every day. Once you form this habit, try expanding to 30 minutes a day. Set new goals as your new habits feel easy. If you're trying to save money, start with a small amount that's easy for you, like $20 a week. Then, look for ways you can tighten up your budget so you can save more.
Arrange your environment to support the life you want. Where and how you spend your time will either help you reach your goals or can hold you back. Additionally, environmental triggers can make you fall back on bad habits, even though you’re working so hard to live your best life. Create a home and workspace that inspires you to stick to your life goals. Remove items that distract you or tempt you to engage in habits you don’t want. For instance, you might get rid of junk food or the extra TV in your bedroom. Place items that help you live your best life in easy to access spots. You might put healthy foods at eye-level in your fridge and could set up a home workspace that makes it easy to work on your passion project.
Track your progress to help you stay motivated. The only way to ensure you’re being successful is to track how you’re doing. Set up a system for tracking your progress on the major goals in your life. Update your tracker daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on what works for you. For example, you might put a mark in your calendar when you work on your goals. You could also create a chart with each step you need to accomplish so you can check off each one. You could also try checking off the items on your vision board or goal list that you created as a visual reminder. You could also use an app like Way of Life, Habitica, or ATracker to monitor your progress.
Reward yourself when you make progress. Celebrating small achievements keeps you motivated and increases your chance of success. Create a list of small rewards you can give yourself, like a small treat, an item you've been wanting, or time to work on a favorite hobby. Use your progress tracker to decide when it's time to celebrate. Give yourself a reward for any progress you make, whether it's great or small. For example, you might buy yourself new running shoes after completing a 5K. If you get a new job, you might invite friends over to celebrate. If you stick to your new changes for an entire week, you might set aside an hour over the weekend to watch your favorite shows or play video games.
Learn from failures so you can do better next time. Failing can leave you with feelings like sadness and embarrassment, but it helps to remember that everyone fails at one point or another. You can’t be successful unless you’re open to failure! Figure out what you can learn from these experiences so you’re more likely to succeed when you try again. For instance, let’s say you applied for a graduate program so you could go back to school, but your application wasn’t accepted. Instead of giving up on your goal, consider asking why you were rejected. Focus on building a better application for next year, and look into other schools that could be a better fit. Similarly, maybe you want to move to a new city, but you're struggling to find a job there. Don't give up on this dream! Keep sending out your applications. If you think you'd have more luck finding a job if you already lived there, save up enough money to support yourself for a few months without a job.
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