How to Achieve Long‐Term Goals

Co-authored by Jessica Elliott, ACC, CEC

Last Updated: December 8, 2024 Approved

While all goals require commitment and dedication, long-term goals are unique. They require work over several months or years, so it's easy to lose your motivation and let your goal slip away. To avoid this outcome, you can take several steps that will keep up your motivation and make your long-term goal much more attainable.

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Achieving Your Long-Term Goal

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Commit to one long-term goal at a time. Long-term goals by definition require a lot of time, commitment, and energy. Because of this, it would be better to only commit to one long-term goal at a time. Otherwise, you may end up committing only partially to your goals and never end up completing them. It is much better to have one complete goal than three incomplete ones.^{[1]
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- This doesn't mean, of course, that you should forget about your other long-term goals if you have them. You have plenty of time in your life to accomplish numerous long-term goals. Some may just have to wait until you have the time to commit to them. Prioritize your goals so the most important one is completed first.
Achieving a long-term goal can seem overwhelming when you look at it as a whole. Goals become much more manageable, however, when you break them into several smaller goals.^{[2]
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Expert Source

Jessica Elliott, ACC, CEC
Certified Executive Coach

Expert Interview. 12 February 2020.} That way you can focus on less daunting tasks, all while working towards your overall goal.^{[3]
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Research source} Read Achieve a Big Goal by Breaking It Into Smaller Ones for more details on how to divide up your long-term goals.

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Set up a timetable for your goal and sub-goals. It helps to set a date that you would like to achieve your goal by. This will help you stay focused and committed to working on your goal. Set timetables for the overall goal, and for each smaller task you break that goal into. That way you'll always know where you stand and if you need to adjust anything.
- Say your goal was to go back to school for your master's degree. You would like to do your master's in 2 years, which represents the deadline for your overall goal. There are several sub-goals involved in this goal that you should give a timetable to as well. You'll want to apply for the program within 3 months, then find an adviser in your first semester, then develop a thesis topic in your second semester. By sticking to these smaller deadlines, you'll be able to stay on track for your larger goal.
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Work on your self-discipline. Long-term goals will entail several months to several years of commitment. You won't be able to attain your goal if you can't keep yourself disciplined and focused. It will help to improve your self-discipline to make it easier to put in the necessary work to reach your goal. There are a number of steps you can take to do this.^{[4]
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- Work in an area with few distractions. Before you're disciplined enough to ignore or tune out distractions, you should eliminate them entirely.
- Meditate. Regular meditation can help focus your mind and keep distractions at bay.
- Design a schedule and stick to it. Without a tight schedule, you're more willing to give into procrastination. Schedule your day and make sure that during time you've scheduled to work, you're focused on working.^{[6]
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- Focus on starting tasks rather than completing them. It is often more difficult to get started on something. By forcing yourself to start, you can allow momentum to take over and you'll be able to finish with less effort.^{[7]
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Develop habits that aid in accomplishing your goal. A long-term goal requires more than just a few weeks or months of commitment- it can require a complete lifestyle change. You may have to restructure certain aspects of your life to help make your goal attainable. If that is the case, you should do so. Pick up new habits that will help you reach your goal.^{[8]
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- Say, for example, that you have a habit of sleeping in on weekends. However, you've set a goal that you'd like to write a book within the next few years. You realize that you can add several hours to your work if you wake up earlier on weekends. By making a habit of waking up early, you've found more time to research and write, which will lead to a faster accomplishment of your goal.
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Review your progress regularly. Whenever you have a goal, you should keep careful track of your progress. This is even more important for a long-term goal, because over months and years of work, you could lose track of where you're at with your goal. Develop a way to keep track of your progress so you always know if you're doing well or need to improve at all.^{[9]
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- If your long-term goal was to live a healthier lifestyle, you can keep a log of your diet and exercise habits, as well as your wight loss statistics. That way, you'll have a record of your progress. When viewing this record, you may see that you've come a long way since you started working on this goal. Seeing your improvement will help keep you motivated to keep working. You can also see if there are any areas you should work harder on. You may notice that over the last month you've fallen behind on your diet. With this information, you can come up with a plan to improve your eating habits over the next month to get back on track.
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Identify obstacles you might encounter. When working towards a long-term goal, it is almost inevitable that you'll experience hardships. Over the years you'll be working toward this goal, numerous things can go wrong or stand in your way. The key is not avoiding obstacles, but planning for them. If you anticipate problems ahead of time, you can have a system in place for overcoming them.
- Say your goal was to start your own business. You know that this is a financial risk and your business may fail to turn a profit for the first few months. In preparation, you commit to saving enough money to support yourself for 6 months. That way, if your business gets off to a slow start, you've anticipated this potential problem and made arrangements so that it won't ruin you.

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Staying Motivated for Long-Term Goals

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Though you'll need to work hard on your goals, you also need to rest. If you're worn out, your mind and body will work far below their peak. This will get in the way of almost any goal. To keep yourself fresh and motivated, be sure to relax once in a while. If you're feeling worn out, overwhelmed, or like you can't reach your goal, take a step back. Do something to distract yourself like taking a walk, reading, or any activity that you enjoy. Then you can come back to your goal rested and ready to keep working.^{[10]
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Try to make your goal fun. There is no reason that you can't enjoy working towards your goal. By making some activities fun, you'll be able to enjoy yourself while simultaneously achieving your goal.
- If your goal is to live a more healthy lifestyle, there are plenty of ways you can make that enjoyable. Playing sports, riding your bike, and taking hikes are all fun activities that also help keep you in great shape.^{[11]
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Each time you complete one of your sub-goals, it is a cause for celebration. You're one step closer to achieving your overall goal, and you should be proud of that. Celebrate by taking a break and doing something you enjoy. These little celebrations will give you something to look forward to and keep you motivated to accomplish your goal.

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Developing a Long-Term Goal

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Developing a long-term goal requires a lot of thought about the future and what you want from it. To start developing a long-term goal, ask yourself where you'd like to be in the next five years. Think about what kind of work you'd be interested in, where you'd like to live, whether you'd like a family, and any other questions that might be important to you. When you have concrete answers to all of these questions, you'll have a clearer picture of what your ideal future will look like. Then, you can begin work on formulating a goal that will help you reach that future and ultimately get ahead in life.^{[12]
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Build a goal from your broad ideas. When you've brainstormed about the kind of future you want, you can start building a goal to reach that future. Look at the elements that make up your ideal future, and think about what kind of goal would lead to that future. That way, you can make sure your long-term goal will lead to a positive outcome for you.^{[13]
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Fischhoff, B., Slovic, P., & Lichtenstein, S. (1988). Knowing what you want: Measuring labile values. Decision Making: Descriptive, Normative and Prescriptive Interactions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 398-421. (Chapter 18)}
- Your ideal future may be to be financially secure. This would involve getting a high-paying job. After doing some research, you decide that specializing in computer science would lead to a lucrative career. So, you set a long-term goal of getting your degree in computer science and working for a programming company.
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Write out a specific goal. Vague goals are difficult to accomplish because there is really no way to track your progress. For long-term goals, lack of specificity can make them nearly impossible to complete. You need to be specific with your goals, especially long-term ones. That way you can stay focused and effectively measure your progress so you'll be able to tell if your goal is attainable.^{[14]
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- Your broad idea may have been to go back to school and get your degree. This is a great start and a great goal, but it is still too vague. When will you enroll? What will you major in? A better way to phrase that goal would be, "In the Fall semester I'm going to enroll in school to get my bachelor's in biology." This gives you a concrete goal, along with when you will start working towards that goal.
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Separate short and long-term goals. In formulating a goal, it is possible you'll come up with a few different goals. Among these, there are probably several that are more short-term goals that won't require several years of commitment. As a general rule of thumb, goals that take a few months to a year are considered short-term. Goals that are longer than this are entering long-term territory. Separate short and long-term goals to make sure that your efforts are focused in the right areas.
- Weight loss, for example, is more of a short-term goal that takes a few months. Living a more healthy lifestyle, however, is a lifetime commitment. You should separate these two when assessing your goals. Certainly losing weight will contribute to a more healthy lifestyle, but much more time and a different kind of effort must go into changing your lifestyle.
While it is good to dream big when making goals, setting goals that are too ambitious can result in frustration and lead you to give up. There are a number of ways you can tell if your goal is unmanageable. Read Get Rid of Unrealistic Goals for a full description of how to spot unrealistic goals and how to adjust them so they are more attainable.

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How do I keep myself from getting distracted from my goal?

Guy Reichard
Executive Life Coach
Guy Reichard is an Executive Life Coach and the Founder of HeartRich Coaching & Training, a professional life coaching and inner leadership training provider based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He works with people to create more meaning, purpose, well-being, and fulfillment in their lives. Guy has over 10 years of personal growth coaching and resilience training experience, helping clients enhance and transform their inner worlds, so they can be a more positive and powerful influence on those they love and lead. He is an Adler Certified Professional Coach (ACPC), and is accredited by the International Coach Federation. He earned a BA in Psychology from York University in 1997 and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from York University in 2000.

Guy Reichard

Executive Life Coach

Expert Answer

If you find yourself gravitating towards things that have nothing to do with your goal, recognize that you're doing this because the distraction is fulfilling some kind of need. It's possible that you need to take a break, or your mind needs to focus on something else.

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