The Importance of Short, Medium, and Long-Term Goals

In what feels now like a previous life, I was a financial advisor.  My job was to help people achieve their financial goals. A cliché that we used repetitively was:

“People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.” 

Planning is so ingrained into my being after this career that I do it in my sleep.

When it comes to financial objectives, it is easy to see the benefit of having goals of different sizes that require different lengths of time. Most people save short-term for a car, mid-term for their childrens’ educational expenses, and long-term for retirement. All are going on at the same time, so you do not sacrifice one for the other. I find this philosophy works well for goals that are not financial, as well. 

When I only have long term goals to focus on, it is hard to stay committed to the process on a day-to-day basis and not lose excitement and/or energy about the project. In fact, when I am running on empty toward a big goal, I start to shift my focus forward to the next best decision or mini-goal I can make. For example, during my climb of Ojos Del Salado in the Chilean Andes, it felt never-ending and mind-numbing with days of monotonous sand and rock. We often felt like we were gaining no forward progress. The incessant wind and cold temperatures layered into the circumstances, and it truly felt overwhelming. I wanted to turn around more than once, and I had to figure out a way to break it up into tiny bite-sized goals. To stay with the climb, I told myself I’d move forward until the sun rises, which may have been an hour from my mental fissures. Then, I’d tell myself I had to count steps. Then, I gave myself a landmark to work toward. It became more achievable without mentally wiping me out with the sheer magnitude of the overarching goal.

When training for larger athletic goals, I ensure that my short-term and mid-term goals are in alignment.

For example, my short-term goals during a week could be lifting three times, doing two short hikes, and doing a long hike on the weekend. When this collection of goals is achieved, I feel good about my week and don’t worry about the bigger long-term goal. I love progress and find that achieving the micro goals inside of the bigger goal helps me keep my excitement and momentum going.