long-term-goal-settingLast week, I listened to the interview I completed with Leon Ho, Creator and Owner lifehack.org.

And Leon’s discussion on ‘Long-term Goal Setting’ jumped out for me.

I realised that I had never set long-term goals (i.e. 5 or 10 years away) for myself. Well not seriously anyway.

Easy Question To Ask, Difficult Question To Answer

It is a bit like the question at an interview ‘Where do you want to be in 5 years time?’ An easy question to ask. A hard one to answer.

I think most individuals answer by saying ‘In your position’!

Leon’s passion is sharing his knowledge on productivity, software engineering and company start-ups. Everything Leon does today ensures he is one-step closer to achieving his long-term goals in each of his passions.

That is what gives Leon his energy, his passion, his drive to succeed and why he has been so successful in his short career.

Do you have long-term goals?

Leon suggests he would not be where he is today if he did not set himself long-term goals.

Here are six steps to support you in creating long-term goals:

1. You need to understand your passions. There is no point in creating a future for yourself, which you are not passionate about.

2. What are your strengths? You have a far superior chance of succeeding if you use your natural strengths.

Your passion can be different to your strengths. Your passion may be writing but it just might not come naturallly to you.

3. If you are unsure of your real passions and strengths, try out new things. What are you naturally good at? What excites you? What task are you doing when time just flies by?

What task would you love to do and would be willing NOT to receive income for it?

That is a great question isn’t it?

4. Once you understand your passions and strengths, take your time to set your goals.

Once set, see yourself achieving the goal NOW.

What does it look like?

Does it feel right?

Does it excite you?

Your answers will show if you have set the right goals.

5. Once you are happy with your goals, write them down and read them every day.

Also, add to each goal, all the major tasks that you have completed which gets you closer to achieving the goal. By reading them everyday it will help focus you and give you the energy to move towards them

6. Regularly review your goals – at least quarterly. You can always add to them, change them, and tweak them to meet your new requirements.

Therefore, if you do not have long-term goals, set some time aside over the next few days and follow the six steps. They can make a huge difference to your success and life.

The rest of the interview with Leon flew by. Leon shared his knowledge on such subjects as building customer relationships, making that jump from Technician to Manager, shaving hours off his working day, long-term goal setting, delegation skills, sharing his passion for productivity and, of course, blogging.

You can get more details on the interview with Leon along with 11 other highly successful individuals here: Great Successful People