Dreams, Goals, and Daily Accomplishments.

With the coming of the new year and resolutions and all of that, I have thought that it is a good time to talk about the differences and similarities of dreams, goals, and daily accomplishments. Many people have the wrong idea when it comes to these concepts, and a more concrete understanding of them is beneficial to all people.

Dreams

A dream is a wish. It is an abstract concept that a person wants to obtain at some point. It might be to learn another language and speak it like a local or to buy a house when they work retail. Whatever it is, it is big, unobtainable and aloof.

Dreams are important though. They inspire us to make our lives richer, to make our life better, and to get us up in the morning doing the things that we’d instead not do to get to the things that we want to do.

The problem with dreams is that they seem very far away in the grand scheme of things. They are hard for people to obtain, cause they are always five years away and the intermediate steps are sometimes hidden from view.

Long-Term Goals

Long-term goals are the building blocks of obtaining your dream. Whether your dream is moving to a tropical island or to buy property, a long-term goal is a large piece to get just that. They are still big, still abstract, but somehow smaller and slightly more obtainable.

A long-term goal is getting a better paying job in order to buy property. It is cashing in your investments to move to someplace tropical. These goals are usually the end of a long struggle, but for many people are just as unobtainable.

They are many times five-years away and a large dark object that you are climbing up. Many people give up on there long-term goals for that very reason.

Short-Term Goals

Short-term goals are more obtainable than long-term ones, but they add up. These short items will make up a larger, longer goal. But the short-term goals still take time to do.

A short-term goal may be finding the better paying job or cutting expenses down to live within your means. They are obtainable but take work that will fill up many days.

The issue for a lot of people is the same as what they have for the long-term goals. They can be abstract, and people will have problems staying focused on doing what is needed to obtain the goal.

Daily Accomplishments

This is the meat of the issue. When I hear anyone talk about there dream, this is what I want to hear. That they have thought enough of there dream that they have worked there way down to this level. I want to hear that they have a daily task list that they can do to get there short-term, then long-term and finally there dream.

Without a daily task list, it is easy to get distracted and sidetracked. Once distracted, the ability to get anything done is limited and in peril.

My Dream

My dream is to become a full-time author earning enough money to allow myself to live where ever that I wish to. I don’t want to be tied down to any one place due to work or a job. My dream is the freedom to fulfill my wanderlust.

My Long-Term Goal

My long-term goal is to write 1 million words a year and publish 12 manuscripts in that time. I also want to earn enough money to pay for basic substance.

My Short-Term Goal

Please see my previous blog post on my 2019 goals. Those are my short-term goals right there.

Daily Accomplishments

To do those goals, I have a daily goal of writing 1500 words a day, plus editing a novel for 2 hours. Once a week I need to write a blog post. There will be other items that I will do when needed.

But, every morning, I take a 2-inch by 3-inch note card, and I write out my daily goal for the day. Then I do them. I track my writing on a spreadsheet to make sure that I am keeping to my goal. It is color coded and will go green when I accomplish my daily task. I am to make it all green.

What does this all mean?

This all means that my daily accomplishments will fulfill my short-term goals. By obtaining my short-term goals, I will make my long-term goals. With my long-term goals done, my dream will be in my reach. By having the accomplishments and goals set up the way that I do,  I don’t have to worry too much about the abstract goals.

However, I am not there yet. It is going to take me years to do this.

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Until next time. Stay shiny.