We have talked about setting our life priorities here -

Setting Life Priorities

you always want to set up your priorities BEFORE you start setting goals or doing "Secret"-like request activities! You always want to make sure your priorities are laid down so your goals align with them.

So let's start with five year goals first - and we'll do one year goals in a separate thread. You start with the long term goals first so that your short term goals move towards the long term ones!!

What are your long term goals, your precise aims, for your life?

OK I'll start! This is actually a very intriguing exercise for me because I feel really happy "where I am". It took me a *long* time to get to this place and I'm now very content with it. So I really haven't thought about long term goals in a while.

I want BellaOnline to be stable, to continue to grow, to maintain its reputation, to continue allowing editors to learn, grow and reach their goals.

I have three Weddings & Courtship books published. I'd like to get three more out.

I have five romance novels written. I'd be happy to get just one of them really published.

My son just finished his freshman year in college, so one goal is to help him get through the next three years and graduate.

I'd like to get the house organized into a state where it sort of self maintains. Right now we have too much stuff and not enough storage system. If I can get everything organized - and get rid of a lot of stuff - it should be so much easier to maintain going forward.

In the past travel has been a goal - but I'm almost feeling burnt out on travel now. Probably because I turn every trip into a research task and spend hours taking notes and writing things up.

Five years is a long time. I want to get better at yoga. I want to play the piano more.

I'd like to reach 125lb and maintain there.

Five years is a long timeline...i never know where i am going to be living or what I will be doing.Hopefully I am more stable now and can actually make projections that far our now, and have them actually follow through.

I missed the chat -- DH's back went out yesterday, and I had to do all the "farm" chores and take care of his aged mom.

I never posted my priorities, but I know now that the big one is living in peace, meaning no more people living with us, and basically doing what I want to do.

My 5-year goals:

1. Build a small, 4-room cabin here on the farm.
2. Rent this big house along with the other one up the road, which will provide enough income for us.
3. Have enough money to go to writers conferences and scrapbooking retreats and give some to people less fortunate.
4. Visit Israel (lifelong goal)
5. Publish two books.
6. See my children and grandchildren succeed in life (also lifelong goal).

Five Year Goals
1. Write a Book about Parental Alienation Syndrome
2. Pay off all debt (actually should be done in 2 years)
3. Live each day in happiness and in thankfulness
4. Lose more weight, get healthier
5. Love a lot

Jill - you did awesome in the chat! The key is not to worry about exact things like "have a 17.2" monitor". Think more general about "still living in my current home". They are to give you a general direction to head in, that lines up with your priorities. They are a tool to help you set your one year goals, more than an actual firm destination

Bettyann -

Peace is an awesome priority It is so important to our health and happiness!

Those are *great* long term goals!! What would you like the books to be about, or does that matter at all to you?

Stephanie -

Those goals look REALLY doable!! We can definitely help you with those, when we see the short term version and figure out what we can do to assist! That is so awesome that debt control is so close at hand! Good for you

Where do I write the short term version. I've missed some stuff

Oh sorry!! Once you have the five year / long term goals set out, go here to work on your short term / one year goals!

Short Term Goals

Okay, I'm going to transfer my priorities from the other thread and turn them into specific - year goals here.

1. Be self-sufficientish (including more financial stability): Have some solar panels on the house. Be well into growing many of our own vegetables and herbs and doing a lot of canning, drying, of veggies, etc. Be somewhat proficient at hunting and fishing.

2. Get healthier: I want to be 150 pounds. I would be on the high end of a healthy BMI for me at that point. When we are all done with the move I plan on walking much more and getting a bike. I'm 225 now, so I feel confident I can reach this goal within 5 years.

3. Go back to school: This sort of falls under the financial stability priority. I want to have completed at least a 2-year degree within 5 years time.

4. Keep writing/arts/crafts: How many of us have said this? I want to get a novel or a book of short stories published.


I really believe these things are doable within 5 years time. Thanks for starting these threads Lisa. It's always good to really think these things through but also brainstorming like this helps.

Lisa, thanks for your kind words as always. Here are my breakdowns for the five years-ish span, based on the priorities I mentioned in the other thread:

To add more creativity and financial stability - create an income from artwork. Have large art portfolio. Google will rank my various writing areas of interest in the top results.

Financial stability - will be earning $2000+ a month on my various projects. All debts (sans student loans) will be paid. PolyGeek will have sold a few applications by this time.

To move forward on projects - break 100,000 on amazon reviewer rank. Have a handful of nicely-selling ebooks on bella and my blogs.

To be stable - still living in crestline. Maybe own a house or build a house on our land by then.

Health and fitness - Will have had the courage to have a blood test or other needed tests by then.

Serenity - Up to advanced yoga poses and able to actually meditate for a reasonable period of time. Anxious days are a thing of rarity.

Adventure - see one year goals.

Trish - those are awesome goals, I love them! These will all not only be great projects to complete but will really add some long term health and serenity into your world. I love to garden

We can definitely help out with all of these goals, and you're right, they are all quite achievable!

Jilly - I love your goals! I think those are awesome goals to have, and really quite within the realm of possibility! I feel very strongly that you can reach these

Advanced yoga poses - I should have thought of that one! See, now I'm going to use a few of your goals to add onto my goal list

I figure I should be able to do some of those interesting strength-based poses by then. You too.

Yes you are SO right! Think of the amazingly cool things we will be able to do after 5 years of practice! That is a neat thing to look forward to

I also hope by then that dan and i have a nice space to do yoga in. It's a fantasy of ours to have a better setting for this kind of thing. Something clean, neat, sacred and zen.

Get a house in the UK for me and hubby. I want to rent it out, he wants us to live in it but rent it out if we want to move on but we are open to each other's ideas here. This is a three to five year goal.

Get out of debt. Travel is a priority so to me there is no rush to get out of debt our cards are going down, loan is paid off, we have savings now, we pay more than the minimum payment to be increased soon. A three to five year goal and of course before the house!

Hmm travel-wise hard to choose which places to go to there are so many! Maybe: Iceland, Barcelona, Turkey, Greece, Japan, Galapagos Islands, Macchu Picchu, Thailand, New York & Virginia, Dubai, (and if I want to REALLY go for gold I will add five more! cruise down the Nile to Aswan, Nubia etc. in Egypt, Jordan, China, India and either the Seychelles or Marauchitas (can't remember how to spell it!) And return to Walt Disney World which we LOVED but this time also go to the clubs and see MORE shows!

I want to continue to be happy in my marriage.

I would LOVE to have some close friends who are positive and uplifting who I see at least once a month for theatre, concerts or just coffee and a chat!

Career-wise do I want to learn something new? Not sure how I will feel in five years! Hubby wants to be an architect or run a business so I want to help support him while continuing to do well in my own career. I know! I'd like to learn at least ONE language - probably Arabic, hubby's language. I'd love to learn Italian, French and Japanese too but it's 5 years not 20. One step at a time!!

That's all for now, that's a lot! Oh it'd be nice to lose another 20 pounds (lost about 16 already!) within five years.

ooo Jill I have always *dreamed* of a Zen like room for quiet meditation and relaxation and that sort of thing. I even have a Japanese screen in the basement on one wall of my dance-dance area, and a string of Tibetan flags across the top. So it's a tiny reminder of what I'm working towards

Those really sound like great long term goals! Again I definitely agree that having a small group of positive friends is SO helpful! I deliberate went out and gathered such a group a few years ago for a monthly dinner and it is just amazing how nice that is. We all support each other, help each other and cheer each other on.

I have always wanted to learn Ukrainian and even have tapes and books, but it's challenging. I should just aim for a word a day ...

Lisa, how did you go out and gather these people? What if we wanted to try this?

I was feeling a lost when BellaOnline first began with all the trillions of things I had to do - managing servers, recruiting editors, writing the code etc. and had nobody to talk with about any of it. So I grabbed my local chamber of commerce directory and literally went through it looking for women contacts at tech companies. I went to their webpages and figured out which ones were actually the sole owners of their own tech business. Then I emailed them to ask if they'd like to get together for drinks or dinner and chat.

I met up with one woman, then two, then we three met, and then we began to add in others. We have about 10 of us which is really too much for one dinner - but usually a few can't make it so it's about 6 at a time which is perfect. It means we all get to talk, we all share our challenges and we all get solutions from each other. It's incredibly supportive.

So it's something you grow one by one. Think about what your goal is with this group. In depth conversations about life? People to hike with? Then figure out how to reach that target group and start with just one-on-one little meetings so you build the core group.

Especially with your website, you could think up pretty much ANY niche, ask if someone wants to meet for dinner to talk about X and see who responds

Lisa. As you can see because of my delay in reading the posts, I'm stayng busy but PEACEFUL! Part of being at peace involves taking things slow sometimes.

The books I want to write/finish writing:

a) Nonfiction The Life Message Scrapbook which is actually written and I'm doing the first edit now. I would like this to be the Ebook I put online. I also want to do some springboard articles for magazines from the book.

b)I'm 30,000 words into a novel and shelved it because my protag went off my outline, and now I have to rewrite the outline because that's how I write. In the meantime, I'm working on a fictional family history book.

c)A nonfiction book on teaching special needs. I homeschooled my SN son for 3 years and learned a ton. Currently working on my "SimplySpecial" website as a place to collect everything.

It's a lot to concentrate on, but the Life Message ebook is the priority for now.

Thanks for helping me zone in on what I'm really doing.

Lisa, are you talking about the Crestline Living website or one of my others?

Hmmm, i would have to think about my goal with a group of this sort would be. I am really intrigued by this idea!

BettyAnn, you have some amazing sounding projects in the pipeline! It also sounds like you are making forward progress on them, for the most part. And you are so right, staying peaceful is an important part of it all.

If you get a moment to post of picture of your Zen dance dance area, I'd love to see it Lisa!

I would love a room with huge windows looking into a view and forest, with a bamboo floor, a buddha statue, an altar and low bench for relaxing, and enough room for two people to do yoga together. Maybe with some orchids. I also have this fantasy that there will be large rocks in the room - boulder sized, even. To sort of have a zen garden without the sand.

very wabi-sabi style.

Athena, those are good goals. Getting a house is exciting - a lot of research and work, but all fun (if you enjoy house hunting, which I do).

It sounds like your credit situation is well in hand. Good for you! Also congrats on the weight loss!

It sounds like your next step with the travel goals is to look at some travel books and travel sites and narrow down where you really want to go in this 5 year time span, and of course to set aside an account to add money to for funding the trips. Do you want to do a trip where you see a lot of places at once, or a trip where you pick one country and get to know it?

Bettyann - those sound like awesome books! It sounds like you have a good collection of things to work on so when one gets stalled you can just move along to one of the other ones. Do you have any challenges in the writing process, or is it pretty smooth?

Jill in terms of gathering a local group I was thinking about your local website! It is the ideal place to talk about that sort of goal. Take it one person at a time, and it'll grow from there

That makes sense, so yes that's my Crestline Living site. I actually have someone I invited to and went to dinner with - my realtor, who is my first official friend in the area. [Yay! I have a friend! ]

Once I have my site the number one hit for Crestline searches, then I want to gather some more people, make some business cards to leave at various places (i guess I could order the cards now, to have them in hand when i am ready) and think about a good group of local women to meet up with.

Jilly- Can I see your local site?

yeah, of course:

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Yes I would order the cards now! Take them with you to the yoga sessions as a start and offer them to the instructor with your thanks, tell them you are linking to them and providing them free publicity. They will *love* that.

Before that, put a note on your site saying you're looking for someone who knows yoga to have lunch or dinner with, to learn some more about its background. Then when the instructor goes to your site they'll see it and perhaps send you a message

Okay, i am ordering the cards right now.

I talked about them with Dan and have been asking Debbie on the SOHO forum about what the tag should say.

I figure I will go with the free ones from vista print to start with. There are not a lot of good ones for my needs from the free list, but i picked one i think will serve. it's the one with clouds if anyone is looking. I figure, high in the mountains, up in the clouds.

that is also a good idea about the message, i will do that once i get my cards in.

Yup free ones are a great way to start! That way you can see how they work, think about the wording and eventually if you want to you can order new ones that are more customized.

Great job!!

Okay, here are my five-year goals, written to match my priorities. I didn't put things I am already "there" on--like my relationship with my family is great, so that's a maintaining/growing kind of thing, not a "reaching". Does that make sense?


To have an established daily yoga practice that I enjoy.
To be maintaining my perfect for me weight. I think that's 150 now.
To be able to walk/run at least 10k (6 miles) comfortably and at a good pace.
To have no debt and have at least $15,000 in savings.
To be happily married.
To have a women's masterminds group I meet with monthly. Not sure yet if this is business focused or health focused.
To have five ebooks and one "real" book published.
To triple my yearly revenues/earnings/profits.

-Move closer to our parents. (We live 3 hours away right now, and we both agree that a move would be great.)
-Pay off school loans and credit card debt.
-Go to Paris, France.
-Renew our wedding vows.
-Learn about/start a stock portfolio.
-Establish a weekly date night with my husband.
-Weigh less than 200 lbs.

I've been thinking and I'm not sure if this is it, but they are the first that pop into mind:

• to be financially secure-- this includes:
  ~be able to take a "real" family vacation, not just the house maintenance trips to MIL's beach rental (Disney World or Great Wolf Lodge)
  ~have a months worth of expenses in savings
• to be a healthy weight, eating healthy and exercising regularly (already down 21 pounds!)
• to have at least one more fantasy novel complete and polished (hopefully two)
• to have built a nice sized photography portfolio
• To have a relatively clean house-- minimal useless clutter (yes this could take 5 years!)

I just looked into Great wolf lodge and it's be at least $600 for 2 nights ( for 4 of us). I don't think that includes food either. Lots of saving to do. *sigh*

It's good to have dreams, and I am sure you can achieve that in five years! Set that up as your long term goal, and then we can break it down into smaller steps

I went back to revisit my long term goals. They still seem quite sound!

* BellaOnline Stability, Editors Learning and Growing
* 3 more Weddings & Courtships books
* get 1 romance novel written
* help my son graduate
* get home organized
* improve at yoga
* play piano more
* maintain 125 pounds

Reminder - the next step once you have your five year goals sorted out is to start thinking shorter term - what should you work on in the next year, to reach those long term goals!

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My five year goals are:-

To be earning 500-1000 dollars online per month on top of my full time work salary and saving this money for my retirement (I'm 45 now so need to be thinking about that one). I also want to be saving into an ISA regularly.

To have my apartment sorted out - at the moment there are still boxes everywhere from when I moved out last winter to have damp works done. I have so much sorting out to do that it could easily take 5 years! The garden also needs regular maintenance and has been sadly neglected.

To lose weight so that I am within my BMI, maintaining this weight loss and able to walk regularly.

To have my e-books back online with matching content, and to write further e-books and maybe a textbook on Mozart.

To write up all the tatting patterns I haven't yet shared and post them on The Tatter's Paradise web site.

To learn to speak French and Italian to a reasonable standard.

Those are all awesome long term goals Gillian! They seem quite doable too!

I took a look back at my goals and I am making progress! I do seem to have a publisher interested in one of my novels!

Oh congratulations Lisa on the possible publisher! And congratulations on reaching No. 7 at Amazon reviewers too.

Thanks Gillian, we'll see how it works out. I am worried that they are a medium sized publisher and won't really market the book at all, but I'll cross that hurdle when I get to it.

The Amazon thing is a mixed bag - I really don't like their new ranking system. I think it's very unfair even though I am at #7 on the new one and #39 on the old system. I am much more proud of the #39 that I worked hard for. The new system has me leap from #9 to #7 with no work at all which doesn't seem right.

Sounds like every one is moving along with their goals. I've found that self-publishing (and this column) and all of my social networking and free-lancing etc has been very satisfying. Those were my last long term goals. At some point I'd like to make some new ones that have nothing to do with writing as that has been my focus for the last 15 years or so.

It definitely is good to have goals in different areas so that you can stretch all your horizons! I like to write, but I am also trying to draw even though I'm not very good at it. I figure the only way I can get better is to at least try What other areas would you like to create new goals in?

I'm actually thinking about doing more with social networking. I'm joining social networks like water these days LOL--a new Ning every other day. LOL.

And I'm learning about RSS feeds etc. I find it all very interesting. But I should probably keep it as a fun hobby....but one that is productive and that I'm serious about.

OK I'm going to reset my goals for 2009! Make sure you've worked on your priorities before then taking on the five year goal part!

* BellaOnline Growth
Yes definitely, this is still a long term goal for me. I want this site to grow so all editors can grow, learn and benefit.

* Wedding & Courtships book
I still have not finished the Native Americans books. The problem is I adore Native American cultures and want to keep researching it. I don't want it to "end". I have to just stick a fork in it and call it done.

* Romance Novels
I have eight of them pretty much done at this point and have all of them out looking for homes. Now to see if a publisher bites.

* Son in College
He is now halfway through his sophomore year and doing well. So far, so good!

* House Cleanliness
I have been making huge efforts to get rid of stuff, to organize remaining stuff. It's still messy but it is getting there. I will keep at it.

* Travel
We were very low key in 2008. I want to slowly ramp up in 2008 to travel occasionally.

* Artistic Stuff
I am very pleased that I've been playing piano, playing the guitar, drawing, and doing my sword class. I want to do yoga more. That will get worked into my routine. I have been journaling daily which I enjoy a lot!

* Weight 125
I hover around 130 which really isn't bad at all. I need to exercise more to get down to 125. At this point it's not really about eating, it's about being active. I am really bad about being active because I work all day long. I will again focus on scheduling in even short activities. Short action is better than zero action.

What are your long term goals?

Hi Lisa:

I see that some of your one year goals are subsets of your five year goals. I just read about that technique in Manage Your Life with Outlook for Dummies by Greg Harvey. I'm still learning! LOL

My long range goals are

1)Learning a Second Language. I didn't pay any attention during my Spanish classes (like five years of it!!!) in college and high school. This time I think I might learn Italian.

2)Continuing raising and pouring lots of time and attention into my two children who are 8 and 10 years old.

3)Figuring out what to do regarding my masters degree. Either working on getting it OR continuing on my journalist's path were the undergraduate degree is okay. One way or the other I'd like to put this issue to bed as I've been thinking about it for about 15 years.

I have other goals that will be achieved via the natural consequences of actions ie if I write for 4 hours a day (goal for 2009) I'm GOING to produce the short stories I want to send out this year and the romance novels I want to complete in 2009.

Also I want to learn more about web 2.0 which I will as I join and participate in more social networking groups and do more reading, etc.

Good Luck in 2009 everyone!!!

Five year goals put the end at 2014. I am sure a lot can be accomplished during that time period. Staying within my priorities of "physically fit and financially sound" and "making a difference in the world", I would like to:

"Physically fit"
Feel strong in my body. Be down to a healthy weight and like how I look. Be able to run 10 miles.

"Financially sound"
Have all my car and credit card debt gone and a good plan to eliminate the remainder of my school and housing debt.

Have significant savings toward my daughter's college, my retirement, house improvements, travel and anything else that I need so I can remain debt free. Be saving at least 10 percent of my income per month - working toward 25%.

Have tripled my income from this year's income.

"Making a difference"
Continue teaching, applying at Social Work schools locally in addition to community colleges.

Be enrolled and halfway toward my Doctorate in Psychological counseling

Have my independent license and my own counseling practice established.

Have a business plan for and made steps toward opening my Holistic Wellness center.

Established a firm plan on how to run for additional political offices.

Completed and published my first fiction book. Halfway through the second book.

Continue to write nonfiction articles and become established as an authority on the topics I have chosen.

Continue to work to get "off the grid" by buying locally, working toward a more "green" mode of transportation, installing solar panels and geo-thermal heat, gardening, composting, and recycling.

*phew*. That takes a load off my mind!

Melissa:

I agree, it feels good to write things down. I tend to obsess mentally and go in circles. It is not until I write things down, get it out of my head and onto paper do I make any progress.

take care and good luck!

Leah - yes definitely if you set your five year goals up then your one year goals are small steps towards those. That way your life is all going in a direction you are happy with!

Learning a second language is an AWESOME goal and definitely doable in five years!! I know many people who have learned Italian as adults and who love it. You should definitely go for that!

What type of a master's degree would you want to get?

I am a firm believer in "just write every day". I have 8 romance novels done now (none are published) and all of them were done just by random writing in spare moments of the days. You can do it!

Melissa - those are awesome goals!! They all sound quite achievable too! What type of a Holistic Wellness center do you want to create? That sounds like a lovely way to spend your day!

What type of a book are you writing?

Once you have your five year goals, move on to the One Year Goals !

Alrighty, so my Five Year Goals are these. I'll be 37. Wow, that's kind of scary for me but I'm embracing it:).

Ok so

1. I want to have completed at least one master's degree - definitely my Master's of Natural Health at Clayton College, possibly another if I decide to go back to traditional school.

2. I want to either have completed a master's program in public health or nutrition or completed a meaningful project with the peace corp or possibly just be finishing up both.

3. I want to successfully be running a craft-based side income business where I get to make things - be that makeup, soap, perfumes, crochet things, jewelry, bags and purses, etc. - and have them be bought and appreciated by people on a very regular basis.

4. I want to have written the two ebooks that I've been wanting to write for a few years now.

5. I want to be debt-free and making a comfortable stable income.

6. I want to be working on some project that involves me working with people one on one to create community gardens for nutritional and medicinal values.

7. I want to have totally come to terms with and made peace with the fact that I didn't accomplish these things earlier in my life.


I think this covers the whole of it:). Now to write my one year goals in my next post.

My One Year Goals

1. Apply to the Peace Corp and three graduate programs
2. Start actively selling on my Etsy shop and make it successful
3. Work consistently on my Clayton College Degree
4. Finish the bulk of if not all of my 101 things in 1001 days challenge that is complete in Nov. 2009
5. Wittle down my debt and increase my credit score
6. Plant a balcony garden
7. At least double my 2008 income
8. Maintain my healthy body and continue to tone and exercise
9. Create a beautiful, comfortable oasis of a home in my next apartment

...this all makes me smile to think of it all happening:)!

Thanks!

What an inspirational topic. My goals are:

1. To have a successful Zoe Business helping others reach their health, nutritional, and financial goals.

2. To relocate to the moutains, and fulfill my dreams of having a mountain side ranch.

3. To reach my own health goals, and even take it to the next level.

4. To have a book published that I have been drafting for some time.

5. To begin my travels to some destinations I have always wanted to visit.

I think thats it for now!

Leah - those look like wonderful five year goals and all seem quite achievable! I see you posted your one year goals over in the one-year thread which is great!

Sandy - it really helps to be as specific as you can in goals so that you have tangible things to aim for. For example, what places would you like to have visited in five years? That helps you then narrow down specific ones for the coming year!

I'm looking back at my five year goals, which I did in June 2008. They were:

* BellaOnline Stable and Growing.
looking good!

* More Weddings Books Published
stalled a bit, I need to set time for this.

* One romance book published
making progress, have a publisher and agent interested!

* Son graduate from college
two years down, two to go

* House organized
busy selling off stuff and working through piles

* Travel
I've had some great trips recently

* Yoga and Piano
I occasionally do yoga and play the piano and guitar. I will focus on giving them more time.

* 125 pounds
I am healthier and exercise more, working towards this goal

So in general I do feel like I'm on the right track and that these are still good goals for the upcoming 5 years.

OK here we are in January 2010.

On one hand it's a little frustrating that I haven't made strong progress in some of these fronts. I still don't have a romance book published. I still haven't finished my wedding book. The house is still pretty much a mess. I'm still not 125 pounds

But on the other hand, BellaOnline remains stable and growing. So that is a HUGE important thing for me, the most important thing, and I'm very proud of that.

James is steadfastly finishing his college degree. So this is also extremely important to me, that nothing stands in the way of him achieving that, and then moving on to whatever next step he chooses to take.

Travel is sort of a nebulous goal. I do enjoy traveling, and I do continue to travel. So I suppose I am achieving that.

I am making continual but slow progress on clearing out the house of junk. I don't bring in any new items really. So that is good.

Here are my five year goals:

1) See my publishing company on solid ground with good growth potential.

2) Have established myself as a consultant, combining fitness & beauty together.

3) Have fundraisers in place for our organization, Teaching The Autistic Through Living and Learning. (annual events, etc.)

4) Begin competing in fitness competitions, which is something I'd like to do for life.

5) Buy a local cottage and renovate it as office space for my business.

I had not actually written down my goals, to tell it truthfully. It was much easier than I thought it would be!

Nancy Welker
BellaOnline Yoga Editor

Bravo Nancy!

I especially love the cottage-turned-office goal. That sounds delightful! Environment is so important as we work toward our goals/dreams.

And I agree writing goals down is not as difficult as it may seem, also goals seem more doable when you get them out of your head and onto paper.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

Lisa,

I hear what you are saying, I also have some things that remain on my to-do list that are frustrating me. Like there�s one particular article that I worked really hard on last year that I�m having a very difficult time trying to place. Then there�s another that I�m stalled on. These outstanding projects bug me.

But I�ve had some successes last year that were not planned at all. I signed up to learn a new software program for FREE through the Department of Labor. Also my daughter had a lead in the school play in 2009 and that was a bit of work helping her to learn her lines, securing the costume etc and it went off without a hitch. The play was perfect. And in 2009, we worked our tails off to get my son into a good middle school.

So I�m trying not to let what I did not get done, outweigh what was accomplished. I�m thinking of it like a report card. When I was in high school, I�d get mostly A�s and B�s and few C�s and the occasional D. So overall, my GPA was fine. And it�s like that with my life too I believe. I may have a few �below average� scores, but overall I�m doing OK.

Those are awesome goals Nancy - I love the cottage idea!!

Leah - you are so right. It is common for people to focus on their failures, and I need to focus on the successes and to plow forward.

So my goals in 2010 are:

* BellaOnline Stable and Growing.
* Next Weddings Books Published
* One romance book published
* Son graduate from college (only a few classes to go)
* House organized (day by day!)
* Travel
* Yoga and Piano
* 125 pounds

I'm going to add onto this:

* Earn a Bachelor's Degree

I have gone hot and cold with this last one for many years now. Sometimes I think there's no need - it won't "help" any and it will cost money and time. But on other hands I worry that it helps me in promoting BellaOnline, and I want to do my utmost to help BellaOnline in every way I can. Also, if I get a degree in management, the classes will directly help me care more for my BellaOnline editors, which is very important to me. So every class will help me be a better mentor.

So I am starting to sway on this one towards investing the time. I don't want to take away from editors by taking classes instead, because I'm already flat out with time. I already work 24 hours a day. But I really think if I take the classes that I might "work more efficiently" so I can help them more smoothly.

Lisa, congrats on your new goal to get a degree! I'm not all that pro-degree myself but I am always pro-learning. You of course are too and are always self-educating (I've always said one of the most important parts of education is that it teaches one HOW to learn and you've got part down.

And, even though I am not sure my degree has ever been "necessary", I have always appreciated that I had it. I do think there is some inherent value in the process on a personal level. So, if you've been thinking about it for awhile, I'm sure you will appreciate doing it.

Yay for you! I'm sure it will be a great adventure.

By five years I fully intend to have my off the grid green home, hopefully a treehouse type deal, with an organic garden, grey water system, compost, a near-zero trash footprint, the home made of largely salvaged materials, etc. Some chickens, goats, geese.

I will have been maintaining my healthy weight levels, be doing advanced yoga and supporting myself financially in my chosen area of earnings. I will have a creative hobby that might also be a sideline.

I will have close friendships in proximity to where i live, and a group of people who like to meet once a week for fun.

I will be planning many hiking and boating trips every month.

I will have this as a home base and will have set down stable roots.

I will be able to donate time to animal charities.

And a big one - I will have a diagnosis for my mental situation and will be getting therapy that is helpful and uplifting.

Jilly, those are great, and if you substitute "I have" for "I will", you have excellent affirmations and visualizations for your future! My reading has (for years) said this and I'm trying to do a better job of it now. For instance, at night, I say "I am in perfect health." I used to say "I hope I don't get sick. I wish I felt better. I hope this cold doesn't turn into a sinus infection" and stuff like that. The Secret (and many other books) talk specifically a lot about this. So, I'm rewriting all my goals & priorities with this in mind--to be affirming and not "anticipatory".

Jilly those are awesome, wonderful goals!

Deb you are so right - we need to focus on the positive and make steps towards that direction!

Deb, that is a neat idea and I agree with you in principle. I used to like affirmations and visualizations, but no longer do. I used to be all about those kind of things but life has beaten them out of me in the decades since I studied them in college.

I do think I wrote things pretty positively with my 'will have been' words. That is about as far as I can go at this point. :-)

Jilly - it's great to take things in little steps! Get yourself settled into your RV, and treat it as your oasis of contentment. Thrill in your beautiful moving home. That sounds like a good focus for now!

It's six months since I revisited my long term goals, and I'm making up a "Lisa Shea Vision Statement" to hang by my desk that has my overall priorities, my long term (5 year) goals, and then my short term goals. So I'm looking at what I have set for my long term goals:

* BellaOnline Growing!
* Next Weddings Books Published
* One romance book published
* Son graduate from college (only a few classes to go)
* House organized (day by day!)
* Yoga and Piano
* 125 pounds
* Earn a Bachelor's Degree

I've made some tweaks to this compared with the January entry. I removed travel. I'm just traveled out I think and want to stay put for a while. My son finishes college in December, so that is great!! That'll be a huge achievement. I submitted one of my romance novels to Harlequin so I'm waiting to hear from them.

I *still* have not finished my weddings book on Native Americans. I need to start focusing on that. I am working steadily towards my degree, so that will take a few years but progress is being made. My weight fluctuates but it's at 134 so it's not *too* far from 125.

The house swings from almost clean to wildly messy. I have to get rid of stuff. I have been doing that but clearly not quickly enough.

And BellaOnline is always a high priority for me, so that remains that way.

I have been getting back into yoga, but haven't touched my piano (which is covered with junk) in a while. So maybe that's an indicator that I should go clean out that spare room!!

First let me finish this process. Do I have any other goals in my long term goal set? ... ...

I think that will do for now. If I reach those things in five years, I will be content.

Just a reminder that once you post your five year goals, you then move on to your One Year Goals to start planning out your small steps to make progress!

In 5 years, I will have a self-sufficient jewelry business, a full-time job that I love that pays the bills and has benefits, and be well on my way to being an accomplished writer.

Man in my life....well, I was married once (widow) and do not see that happening again and is not in my 5 year plans.....now - talk about 10 years - well - OK!

Robin - I know some of my goals were fuzzy so I wasn't a very good role model, but the more specific you are with your goals, the better!

So rather than being "on the way" to being an accomplished writer, what would you like to accomplish? Would you like to publish a book? Be published in a magazine?

On the romantic front, what if you say that you plan to be in a healthy, supportive relationship of some kind?

My main five year goal is to be totally self-employed as a Publisher and Writer.

Dianne -

That is a great goal! That sounds completely achievable too - I know many people who make their living by writing!

What are some other goals for your list, based on your priorities? Any health or spiritually related goals?

Lisa,

My Health goals are always changing because I'm inconsistent when it comes to exercise and I love food.

I've said it. I admit it. I love food and chocolate.

My health goal is just to get down to a size 12 and consisently walk 3-5 times per week, at least 2 miles per day.

That's completely achievable for me. Two years ago, I was walking 4 miles per day, 3 times per week [writing and my relationship started taking priority and I stopped].

Really, that's a 1 year goal, but I won't feel like I've really accomplished it until I do it consistently for at least 5 years. Then I will know that I have changed for real.

As for my spirituality. That is very important to me. Strengthening what I call my spiritual core [I talk about this in my book] is a must and it's something I do daily, on a regular basis and have done so for years.

Dianne -

It is fine to love food! The key is to enjoy it in a way that balances with your life. So you savor small pieces of fine chocolate rather than eating giant gallons of chocolate ice cream. That sort of thing. We can find that balance for you!

Those sound like great goals!

Five year goal?

- Get in shape
- Write five courses and ebooks for here
- Finish my degree
- Rediscover the sanity I lost in the meantime

LOL! No more Gallons of Ice Cream. Dang!

I'm trying, Lisa. One day at a time. Like a 12 step program. hahahaha

Peace & Blessings,

i am thinking about revisiting the five year goals. I started a thread on just my goals to gather up all the old things I mentioned and to marshal my thoughts.

Five years still seems so far out...but since we all started making these goals in 2008, I can see that time really does fly by.

Rebecca - the degree and 5 courses are awesome, concrete goals, and are great to work towards! Concrete goals are really the best ones in terms of success.

"Get in shape" is a little more nebulous. You don't have to tell us if you're shy but for yourself I would narrow that down to things that you can measure. Is it a weight? A waist size? A distance you'd like to be able to run? Find some sort of measurement that works well for you, and write that on your personal list.

The sanity one is a little nebulous too Imagine that it's five years from now and you're perfectly happy. What would be a part of that? A daily meditation routine? Weekly yoga? Relaxing coffee every morning? Whatever the specifics are, put those into your goals!

Jilly - you can definitely revise your long term goals if you want to! I know five years sounds like a long way out but the purpose here isn't exactly to focus on them as "things to do". Your short term goals are the "things to do". The five year goals are a "where you are heading". It's more a mental state. In the future, once you have time to get there, imagine a Perfect Jilly World. What will you be like in that ideal world? What will your typical week be like? How will you feel? That is what we're aiming for. It's not necessary that you exactly hit those goals or that they stay the same! It is more to help you aim your short term goals.

If for example you kept focusing short term on making tons of origami but your long term goal was to be a painter, there would be a disconnect! A lot of times we don't see that disconnect until we sit down and envision what we want to BE in a few years.

I see what you are saying and I started giving it a whack in my goal thread. the perfect jilly world will start to coalesce!

That is fantastic news Jilly - I can see the sparkles twinkling into being in your environment!

I need to create 5 year goals. Most of my goals are ones that I would like to complete by the time I'm 50 - next September. They look a lot like Rebecca's.

Starting with my priorities, then moving to my five year goals, then my one year, really helped me to clear up what it is I want in my life.

In fact, today I spent a lot of time writing it out by hand. I poured water in my computer It's drying out - and I am here LOL. But it's got a lot of gliches.

Anyway... being without a computer all day really gave me time to focus!

Deanna,
I'm sorry to hear that. Being without a computer does give you time to think doesn't it? Did you have to go get it fixed or is it coming on by itself?

It's coming on - YAY. There are a couple of keys that have decided to take a vacation LOL! But, I'm managing without them.

I'm VERY thankful! VERY VERY Thankful.

It looks like all your important keys are working to me!

I find it really helps to have my priorities, 5 year goals, and 1 year goals by my desk. I glance at it each morning and keep myself on track!

I was just looking at my 5 year goals and it is amazing that I am actually making progress towards them! James is in the final weeks of earning his bachelor's degree. He is about to graduate from college! That is a HUGE item off my list.

Also amazingly I am down to 129 pounds today, and my 5 year goal was to reach 125 pounds! So I am almost there! I am in the home stretch!

Wow, so soon I may need to revist my goal list because there will be too few things on it What a great state to be in!

I want to encourage everyone out there. If you set up your priorities, and then your goals, and then take baby steps, you really do get there. One little step at a time

Once you create your five year goals, be sure to then break it out more near-term with your one year goals!

Setting Up One Year Goals

Lisa, how amazing that you are getting somewhere with your five year list. It seems like five years is such a long time away but really - you gave yourself a direction for this time that you would not otherwise have had available!

That is exactly true Jilly - the five year goals are about a *direction*. They aren't about things to do. They are just about setting yourself in a given direction. If you do that - and then work on the smaller goals, you can get there!

We are approaching 2011! This is the perfect time to first revisit your priorities, and then once those are set, to then revisit your 5 year goals! What would you like to accomplish? Any changes to your list?

Okay, I went to my personal goal thread and re-worked my five year goals. I am really happy with them now. It only took three years to establish five year goals that I feel right with.

I have just finished revisiting my overall life priorities in the Priority Setting Thread. Now that those are re-set, I am ready to tackle a revisiting of my Five Year (long term) goals.

Previously my five year goals were:

* BellaOnline Growing!
* Next Weddings Books Published
* One romance book published
* Son graduate from college (only a few classes to go)
* House organized (day by day!)
* Yoga and Piano
* 125 pounds
* Earn a Bachelor's Degree


As I look at these now, some of them are a little vague. So let's see what I can do to be more specific.

* BellaOnline at 90% Editor Capacity
I think that's more specific, and it's what I care about. I don't have a specific traffic aim, because every site is different here. Our aim is on editor growth and training. So we want to help as many editors as we can. I don't think it's realistic to aim for 100% full sites because editors have babies, they get married, and there will always be a reason they need to move on sometimes. I think 90% is reasonable as a goal!

* Native American Wedding Book Complete
I think that's more realistic. My publisher is having problems and I am hoping they will pull through it. So I am content to wait for the book to be published - but I should have it *finished*.

* One Romance Book Published
I have six written and another 3 almost done. I will continue to keep the cycle going of sending them out to publishers. Sometimes there's an **8 month** turnaround time before I find out if they're going to use it, so that is frustrating. Right now I only submit to one place and wait for a response. I feel that's ethically fair, but I need to look at other options I think, otherwise this could take decades.

My son is just waiting for his graduation processing to complete, so that is great! That's off my list

* House Organized
Some days I think this isn't even possible. I've been trying for so long. But I think things are getting better. It is really important for my long term health and time efficiency, so I need to leave it on here and figure something out.

* Piano and Guitar
I did learn how to play guitar, so that's cool! Now I need to find time to work on that and to play on my piano. One issue is I can't GET to my keyboard because piles of junk surround it. Very sad. So something to work on. Plus I stole the keyboard's speakers to put onto my son's computer. Hmmmm.

* Advanced Yoga and <130 Pounds
I used to say 125 pounds but I don't think an exact number is necessary any more. I am at 128 and am very happy. I feel no urge to fight for 3 pounds just to hit a certain number. I want to stay active, to do yoga, to start doing land aerobics rather than water aerobics. So this seems better. But then again it's more a maintenance than a goal. I should have something to work TOWARDS. OK I updated it to say "Advanced Yoga" which means I want to be able to do poses I can't do now. That sounds like fun.

As a side note I just had my annual checkup and my doctor is thrilled with my blood work and everything else. It wasn't bad before, but she just reiterated that I am doing so well and I should keep at it, that others would love to have my numbers. So low carb is working!!

* Earn a Bachelor's Degree
I'm so thrilled that I'm entering the final classes of Year 1!! Only about 2 more years to go! It was very challenging, but I'm doing it and maintaining my straight As. I am very happy I started towards this goal. I am learning SO much which helps me daily in what I do.

So those are my new, tweaked five year / long term goals - and I feel very happy about them!

Hmmmm. Should I add anything else to them? Let me ponder ...

I think as an overall set this is a good start! As I pondered I started to think about making goals for EVERY site I run, and I do think that's a good idea, but I think that should be separate from these core goals.

I'm looking at my long term goal list and "piano and guitar" is very vague. How do you work towards that? So I think I am going to say *Proficient* at piano and guitar. I want to be able to smoothly play a number of songs. That is better.

HA! One of my long term goals was to learn to play the harp. I got a lap harp back in Christmas 2005. I haven't even taken the thing out of it's bag since Spring 2006. :::sigh:::

Maybe we need to get our instruments out, mark a practice time, and leave them where we trip over them constantly LOL!

Now my guitar I'm much better at - but I'm motivated because I want to play and sing in front of people and I love sharing songs that I've written. It's so much easier. But I guess I could do the same thing with the harp.

As one of those �pieces of dead wood� teachers slated for riffing (reduction in force), but who smell the smoke and quickly retired last month, my short-term goals are thus:
&#61692; Adjust to a new lifestyle,
&#61692; Live on a new budget.
&#61692; Set my biological time clock.
&#61692; Finish my Bella training.
&#61692; Write two articles a week.
&#61692; Learn to write in a new format.
&#61692; Finish my doctoral degree this year.
&#61692; Breath.

My long-term goals are thus:
&#61692; Convince 5 teachers or lawyers a year to volunteer time with my nonprofit love-- Advocacy for Kids.
&#61692; Give 3 speaking engagements a year on the missing I in IEP.
&#61692; Continue to raise awareness on the inequality shown toward minorities in education and the need for early intervention.
&#61692; Fight for all tests in the native language of children.
&#61692; Fight for standardized, national tests in all subjects for all grades.
&#61692; Fight for national teacher certification.
&#61692; Fight for the federal government to pay for an advocate for all IEPs to represent the child.
&#61692; Watch both my granddaughters finish growing up to be whatever they choose to be as long as they are completely independent and happy.
&#61692; Earn a degree in education law.
&#61692; Breath.

Deanna -

I found I practiced a great deal more when the instrument was right there out in the main room all the time. I have it hanging on the wall in the living room. Can you leave your harp out so it's easier to get to?

RetiredTeacher - those are great starts on the goals!

We find goals do immensely better if you make them SMART -

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

So the key is you want to set a specific target for the goal. Instead of "fight for all tests" you want the goal to be (if you think it can be done) Have all tests. If you don't think that's possible in 5 years, then state as a goal what percentage you want to reach.

That sort of thing!

I was just reviewing my five year goals which were

FIVE YEAR GOALS
* BellaOnline at 90% Editor Capacity
* House Organized
* Native American Wedding Book Complete
* One Romance Book Published
* Earn a Bachelor's Degree
* Advanced Yoga and <130 pounds
* Proficient at Piano and Guitar

I am now at 120.2 pounds so the <130 pounds goal is not really a "goal" any more - which means it's lost some of its ability to motivate. I think I need a new measurement that goes beyond weight. My fat percentage is about 23% right now. So I think a better goal would be "fat percentage of 18%." That way it's something to strive for!

I'm not even working on the Native American book so I was giving thought to what I *am* working on. I'm working on catching up all my email backlogs. So it occurred to me that a new goal would be

Have Zero Email Messages in Backlog

This seems completely outrageous to me right now. I have literally thousands of messages in my various to-do folders. But that is a great emotional strain on me, to have them. So that sounds like a great long term priority!

That sounds like a very good switch, Lisa, on the book and inbox. I like the idea of you working more intentionally on ridding yourself of the life stress of having emails backed up!

And congrats on the stable 120 pound weight!

I definitely feel that making up goal lists and hanging them by your desk helps a great deal! It helps remind you what tasks are important to your life, and keeps you focused on them!

Once people have their long term goals set, it's time to break out short term goals that head you in that direction!

One Year Goal Setting

It's spring and a perfect time to review the long term goal lists!

I am working diligently on organizing the house - I just spent 3-4 hours last night digging through each room to find stuff to donate to the BigBrother BigSister group. So that got picked up this morning. I love driveway pickup I also got a free bulk shredder from Amazon's vine program so that will help me get rid of my old taxes that are past the 7 year mark. If it works of course

I am diligently working towards my bachelor's degree and maintaining my straight-A record so that is good.

I'm making slow but steady progress on my email backlog.

I have not been tracking my body fat really or working diligently on yoga. I've just been SO backlogged that a lot of stuff has slid. So I need to renew my focus on even some portion of each day being about health. Health is important. I'll stand on the scale and get my weight but not push the extra button to see the other figures for fat, muscle, etc. So the last time I saw my fat number was 3/28 when it was 17.2%. Which, as it turns out, is below the 18% I had set as my 5 year goal. Hmmmm. So I need a new goal I think. I suppose I have to look up healthy fat percentages for women in their 40s!

LOL it turns out my scale was broken. My fat percentage is actually 20%. But then I looked up what a woman should have in my weight range and they seem to say I should not go below 21%. That is, I should not be setting a fat percentage aim that is even lower.

I'll go discuss this in the exercise forum to figure out a healthy goal to set!

So that definitely is key - make sure your goal is a *healthy* one

It's good to review your five year goals every once in a while to make sure you still agree with them or perhaps you want to add in new items.

I still do want to do all the things in my five year goals but interestingly I look at the goal of "have zero email messages in my backlog" and it seems completely impossible. In five years!! That's pretty sad I think I need to be more proactive about working on that.

Part of my problem is that I use the to do lists as storage areas for long term projects. So let's say someone wrote me in at my wine site and suggested I make a new area on wine shipping laws for each country. I think that's a good long term idea so I leave the email in my to do folder as a reminder. But it can sit there for years until I get to that task. Now multiply that by thousands of messages on a variety of topics and you see my issue.

Maybe what I need to do is thank the person for the idea, tell them I'll do it eventually, and then in a SEPARATE project tracking program put the information in there with a priority. But really is that different if I have a gigantic project list or tons of email backlogs?

I'll start up a separate thread on this, in the organizing forum.

How is everyone else doing with their five year lists? Do they still seem like good items?

Fall is a perfect time to revisit long term goals, as we all go "back to school" in our own various ways!

I was just looking at my five year goals -

FIVE YEAR GOALS
* BellaOnline at 90% Editor Capacity
* House Organized
* Native American Wedding Book Complete
* One Romance Book Published
* Earn a Bachelor's Degree
* Advanced Yoga and <130 pounds
* Proficient at Piano and Guitar

I am thinking of self publishing my first romance novel so that may actually be done within the month! That's an exciting change of perspective for me. I have in essence given up on convincing Harlequin that my no-sex style is a good match for them I will find my own audience!

I'm doing well with daily yoga, an hour each morning, so I think I need to define the "advanced yoga" more explicitly. I'll go talk in the yoga forum about that.

Does anyone else have some tweaking to do on their long term goals?

Okay, I decided I would take another stab at this:

In five years i'd like to see my house on solar for heat, water, electronics and many appliances. I'd like to see a full array of fruit and nut trees, edible bushes, edible perennials and a thriving garden plot on well-built soil. I will have an outdoor shower area or bathhouse. I will have a composting toilet established.

I'd like to have actual gutters directing water to my rain barrels instead of all this laborious hand carrying of small jugs sitting under the eaves. My greywater system will be made with useful intent, instead of simply draining into the bamboo as it does now.

I will have a two-story shed in the backyard with a view deck.

My house will be fixed enough to retain heat and I will have a wood burning stove set up in it.

Those are things that make me happy to think about.

My 5 year goals are -
1. Being a senior feature writer
2. Buying a house

I think that is enough and all that I need in my life.

Well my long term goals are which I foresee to achieve in the coming 5 years is to become an expert in cooking:):) Besides this I would like to have achieved my MBA degree or a Bachelors degree in Education.

Jilly -

Those are great goals! Can you make them in a list to hang somewhere and inspire you? I have my list with my priorities, 5-year, and 1-year hanging right by my desk.

Jodie -

Those are great goals! I'd phrase #2 in the present tense, like "Owning a house I love" so it feels more immediate

Once you have those, it's time to work on the one year goals to focus your attention in!

I'm thrilled to say I'm about to hit one of my five year goals - I'm going to have 3 of my romance novels published by the end of THIS year! Hurrah!!

So my 5 year goal list now is -

BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
House organized
Native American wedding book complete
earn my bachelor's degree
earn $3000 from romance novel sales
do shoulder press yoga pose
body fat at 18%
play moonlight sonata on piano
play dueling banjos on guitar
have zero messages in backlog

There, that's specific and should be attainable in 5 years!

Reminder - once your five year goals are set - time to focus in on the One Year Goals

It's funny how some of my goals seem achievable and others seem quite challenging. It wasn't that long ago that getting a degree was a distant dream - and now I'm almost in my senior year! It really does show that taking those tiny steps, one at a time, get you to where you want to be.

The house, though, goes instantly from clean to completely chaotic. It can be frustrating. I have to focus on small steps. The same with my email backlog.

Here we are in 2012! The perfect time to revisit those long term goals. Remember, these aren't really about "reaching" the goals. They are about giving you direction so when you work on daily tasks you know if they are in service of a healthy goal or one that doesn't fall within your priorities.

So when I say "have zero email messages in backlog" - maybe that will never happen. But it serves as a point of light to aim at, so I know when I work on my email backlog that it is a healthy thing for me to do with my time.

That makes it sound unattainable and therefore stressful, to me. I never want to set my bar so high that I will never get there, or have to put forth a Herculean effort to reach.

I feel the same way Jilly. I want to set my bar high but not so high it's not realistic.

Since I hope to write everyday now, starting today, I'll take a leap and set a goal of one book a year, at least.

That is the only goal I can think of right now.

I just saw my amazon reviewer score is that much closer to my long-term goal of being in the top 1000 -

Top Reviewer Ranking: 1,290

Just had to say yay!

That is awesome news Jilly - one step at a time! Think each week about a fun thing you can review. It doesn't have to be complex. It can simply be something you love!

I start my senior year of college in a few weeks - goals come closer to you step by step!

I'm pretty good at making 1 year goals. 5 year goals, hmm..they are very vague. Sometimes, I think I set the bar too high (maybe they should be a 10 yr goal). I need to break them down and make some more of my 1 yr goals part of the groundwork for the larger goals.

I just thought of a good five year goal. I want to have the trailer house here as fixed up as free governmental grants can get me by then. So by 2017.

to Lisa Low carb,
When I saw the title 5 year planning,it struck me.You see .I live one Now at the time.Have no future plans ,the future does not exist ,it is an Illusion like the past.Yesterday in the world of international soccer,a young 23 year old player ,just
fell dead on the field.Luckely for him they were able to bring him back to life.I almost died twice in my life.So no more long
range plans for me. Living the Now,to me is the fartest ,I can foresee.

A simple buddhist named
loong

Loong -

It is certainly fine if you want to live on a day to day basis! Many of us want to work on projects like writing a novel, and that requires some planning It's fine to appreciate each day - and it's also fine to have a project that spans more than a day in length!

For example, people who are age 18 often think about college, and that requires planning.

So we are all at different stages.

Lyn -

The long term / 5 year goals aren't necessarily about achieving them. They're about choosing compass directions for your short term goals. That is, say you spend every Friday drinking at a bar. What goal would that be in service of? What priority? By having long term goals, you can help ensure that your shorter term activities are in service of those.

So it's fine if they are a high bar; they will keep getting adjusted over the years. Their most important attribute is they are a way to keep your short term goals and activities pointed in the right direction.

As an example, one of my long term goals is to have zero messages in my email backlog. That might never happen. But it helps me to know that my short term goal of catching all BellaOnline email up is in service of something important to me.

OK I'm taking a fresh look at my five year goals. They are -

BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
House organized
Native American wedding book complete
earn my bachelor's degree
earn $3000 from romance novel sales
do shoulder press yoga pose
body fat at 18%
play moonlight sonata on piano
play dueling banjos on guitar
have zero messages in backlog

All of these are feeling like great directions for me! The romance novel sales are on target. My body fat just went below 20%! My first five medieval novels are out. I'm finishing up my junior year of college.

Some are stalled - the piano and guitar - but I will make space for them as I get time. One step at a time!

My approach is that they are goals I have to really stretch myself to attain. Not so easy that I know I can do with them with my eyes closed, but not so hard that it is certain failure, and getting discouraged.

Within my 5 year goals are the 4 ebooks
- First year supervisor
- First time in a job (for recent high school and college grads)
2 on job search ( not sure the angle on those yet.)

I have a few more, but I'm rolling them around in my mind at the moment.

Getting my yard to an acceptable - landscape level is high on the list. The battle of the lawnmower was ON last night. I had to admit defeat after the first hour of trying to use the lawnmower (choked it out) , then the push mower (couldn't cut through the mass), finally the weedwhacker to cut through the foot high grass that seemed to grow over night.

Lisa,
Your goals sound fantastic and definitely attainable - you're well on your way. Good luck on the message backlog...LOL...

I love the idea of <30 empty sites on BellaOnline - that sounds very cool and would love to hear about how editors could help market it to make that one attainable for you. (sometimes it's about teamwork to "get 'er done"

Miss Jilly - sounds wonderful!

Summertime is a great time to review your five year / long term goals. That helps you keep your life on path with your shorter term projects!

I am now a senior in college which is great! The final stretch!

I'm also about to publish my 9th medieval novel out of 10. That is amazing to me. It was only last winter when I began publishing them. This has been on my to-do list for decades! Hurrah!

So five year goals DO WORK. They help give you a way to aim for things.

Yes I haven't been practicing my guitar or piano. So this helps me to reevaluate those. Are they important to me? Maybe not? If so, what are the hurdles? My guitar is right there on the all. It's hanging there ready for me. Heck, maybe I should take it down right now! Yes!

And then when you have your five year goals posted, it's time to move along to the One Year Goals

One of my five year goals is alllllmost there! I now have an Amazon ranking of 1056! Only 56 points away from seeing the Top 1000 badge. I haven't been going out of my way to post reviews just to get there. I feel like my reviews are excellent and the quality of them should be enough to get me there.

It's clear that the more i post, the closer I get, however.

In any case, I expect to break this barrier soon. I've been between 1200-1300 for some time now, so this jump to 1056 is exciting for me.

Oh. I also took another look at my Five Year Goals, and it's exciting to see that I did really very well on them!

I summarized them here on Jilly's Goal Thread.

Now I need to set up brand new Five Year Goals. I guess they do work.

YAY! Today I am on the Top 1000 reviewers on Amazon! My number is 973 and I have the darn Top 1000 badge!!!

I made myself a copy of that and emailed it to me. A five year goal, officially broken.

I need to celebrate somehow.

Just to keep tracking my goal, it seems that once I broke the 1000 reviewer mark, it's like i broke the surface tension of the water. It's been moving along steadily: today my rank is 919.

907 today!

That is *fantastic* Jilly - congratulations!! Kudos to you for sticking with your goal and achieving it!

Sometimes it feels like I'm caught in limbo with my own five year goals. The house is a large mess again, because I'm digging out everything to sell and give away. But I reassure myself that this is a step towards overall progress.

The bachelor's degree is within reach! That is great!

The novels are almost all published! Just this one last one to go!

I haven't been practicing guitar or piano at all, but I have been kayaking a lot which isn't even on my list. So I am content with that trade-off for the remaining days of warmer weather.

On the Native American book, my publisher is going through a reorganization so I am waiting to see how that goes. I should know in another few weeks.

So I do feel content with my five year goals as they sit. I think the empty sites and the email backlog are the two key areas I want to focus on.

I didn't fix any five years goal because I want to save my long term goal.My long term goal is to spread education to other. I drive on the phrase &quot;Teach All you want and learn all you desire&quot;.

My updated amazon rank is now 785. It does seem to fluctuate frequently but in a generally improving trend as I add more reviews.

I am curious to see if I can make the top 500, but it's not as huge a goal as the 1000 was. i really just wanted the validation of the badge near my name.

Lisa, the degree and your novels are your big milestone goals and you are almost there! It's so exciting.

In new news on the five year goals, I might be moving to yuma by next summer, in which case the 2017 goal of fixing this trailer won't happen.

My life might be too chaotic for these five year spans of time.

My 5 year goal si a beautiful house, my own design.

To all or none,

Is it not funny how people lead their lives.Some have 5 years goal,others like me have no goals and live only one nano second at the time.
Both are ok.

Loongdragon

Amazon rank is now 759. I will be interested to see how hard it really is to get into the 500. This is fun.

Loong, living for the next nanosecond sounds hard.

VijayKumar -

It's great to have a priority of educating others! That's a lovely priority.

A five year goal helps you integrate that into your daily life. So what would a goal be related to that? Would you like to write books to educate others? Become a personal coach? Run online classes? What would an ideal way be for you to help educate others?

Jilly -

A five year goal isn't about actually achieving those goals as much as it's about giving a direction to aim the one year goals towards. It's fine if they change! It's normal that they fluctuate. Our priorities change, our life circumstances change. It's good to reevaluate them regularly and see where life is now taking you .

I might have a goal involving the guitar for several years and then decide the guitar just isn't for me. That's fine! At least my working on it helped me figure that out, and to move on.

True, and good points, Lisa.

I want to never deal with these noseeums again. I am physiologically sensitive to their chemicals in my bloodstream. Dealing with it each year, for half a year, is really bad for my health and recovery.

I just need to make sure that Yuma, if indeed I go there, is noseeum free.

So it is a big goal of mine to decide where exactly I am going to live, to be noseeum-free, and have my living situation settled for good.

Dear Jilly -

That is an awesome goal, and one that will greatly influence your life's happiness! It's wonderful to have a goal like that.

Hopefully we all end up in life in a place where we are content to live, and that's an important goal to work towards!

I am extremely content where I live now, and would be happy to live here for all my days. I think that's something we should all deserve!

I last looked at my five year goals in March so this is a perfect time to revisit them. They are:

BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
House organized
Native American wedding book complete
earn my bachelor's degree
earn $3000 from romance novel sales
do shoulder press yoga pose
body fat at 18%
play moonlight sonata on piano
play dueling banjos on guitar
have zero messages in backlog

I agree with those goals, and do want to achieve them. I think there's a few goals missing from the list, though, so I should brainstorm about that.

I finished my 10 medieval novels and have them published. I don't want to just stop there. I have another 5 in the works. So one of those new goals should be

Have 15 medieval novels published.

What else? Really, the house organizing is key. The mess wears on me daily. I am working diligently on it.

Maybe that's it for now. I do want to have more medieval books go out.

Have you guys looked at your long term list recently? Does it still resonate with you?

The next step once you have your five year goals set is to then narrow it down to One Year Goals.

You are extremely fortunate to have that, Lisa. Remember to be thankful for it.

I'm just glad to know that I'm done with Camp Verde. It was a good effort, but it didn't work out. The noseeum issue is what really put the nails on the coffin. I have friends here now, which I wanted, but I don't feel sad about leaving. I am sure I'll come through the area from time to time no matter what.

My goal for this year is to figure out where I am supposed to be living. It might be Yuma, and it might be with my parents. It could be something I haven't thought of yet.

In five years, I plan to have been living where I am meant to be living. Isn't this a strange problem to have? I bet most people know where they are supposed to be living.

Dear Jilly -

Your current location was a wonderful transition period for you! You got to practice a variety of skills. You learned valuable things. You built a strong network. Now you can use all of that to be even better at your next location!

Life comes one step at a time and you've done wonderfully here. You're ready for that next step!

I think a five year goal of being where you are meant to be is perfect. This place helped you figure out some pros and cons. Now you can take your time to explore your next options.

I would bet that you're moving closer towards some of your other five year goals as well!

OK I last reviewed my long-term goals in November, so I'm due for a refresh. I had:

*Earn my bachelor's degree
*BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
*Have zero messages in all queues
*House organized
*Native American wedding book complete
*Earn $3000 from romance novel sales
*Have 15 medieval books published
*Do shoulder press yoga pose
*Body fat at 16%
*Play moonlight sonata on piano
*Play dueling banjos on guitar


I'm enjoying my murder mystery novels that I did at NaNoWriMo and want to continue that, so I want to add in

* Have 5 murder mystery novels published

My bachelor's degree is only a few months away! It's so amazing that it is near completion .

The "house organized" one strikes me as just too vague. Goals have to be specific to work. That isn't specific at all. How would I measure it? How about "have floors and counters clear of piles" - *that* sounds good. That's a specific thing I could aim to achieve.

I am just not making progress on this native american wedding book. I was fired up when the new publishers took over, but then I've heard nothing. There was supposed to be a big push for a relaunch right now, and I haven't heard a peep despite sending them messages. So I'm losing energy again. Which is a shame because I did a TON of research for it. I wonder if they lost traction again. I wrote them on the 21st; I'm trying again right now.


OK so my new goal list is this -

*Earn my bachelor's degree
*BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
*Have zero messages in all queues
*Floors and counters clear of piles
*Native American wedding book complete
*Earn $3000 from romance novel sales
*Have 15 medieval books published
*Have 5 mystery novels published
*Do shoulder press yoga pose
*Body fat at 16%
*Play moonlight sonata on piano
*Play dueling banjos on guitar

I feel good about that!

How are you guys doing? Have you reviewed your long term goal list recently? The aim is not necessarily to hit all those goals, but to have "direction" to aim your short term goals at. You want to make sure the things you do short term actually serve your overall dreams in life.

I have a few ideas simmering to add here. I need to sit down and think them through.

Simmering is good Jilly - let us know when you have a fresh view of your long term goals!

I am nearing the end of my bachelor's degree project! I'm halfway through my spring-1 classes. Then just one last class and I'm done!

I thought I'd chimed in on this thread but guess not. With all the unexpected stuff life has tossed my way, I rarely thought about five years ahead. I tend to live in the now more than ever before because NOW is pretty good.

The past holds pain (my little boy died.) The future may very well be filled with pain, too (my daughter has the same terminal disorder.) But hers is a mild case and she may outlive me; no one knows.

So five years from now? {{shrug}}

We are happy now. We all feel as though life has been an extraordinary experience, filled with learning and growth. Each day brings something to discover or to enjoy. How fortunate are we? Very!

I am 52 now and have experienced a lot in my life already. I'd say the most important things to me, like finding my true love, having our children, etc.

But if we're talking about tangible accomplishments, I'd say that these are my goals:
1. See all of my children's books published.
2. Continue to publish my self-help ebooks that I hope help people live better lives.
3. Move from this home. It was given to me by my aunt but I am giving it to my sisters to avoid any family discord.
4. Create a new home for us and make it beautiful. Surrounded by nature!
5. Have established a healthy and vibrant lifestyle.
6. Adopt two more dogs (one a pure bred Border Collie and the other a Giant Pyrenees.) Won't do this until I have a larger property.
7. Take my family to explore this earth.
8. Be adept at photography to illustrate my own ebooks.
9. Be multi-lingual with friends of all cultures.
10. Be an active supporter of charitable causes and a patron of the arts.
11. Keep learning!

Those are my five-year goals.

Lori -

You absolutely are shouldering a great deal. You should be sure to nurture yourself and care for your own health.

Your five year goals are a great start! There are some wonderful things in there. Now to turn them into phrasing that does its very best to help you reach them.

Goals do best when they are written in a way which is SMART - specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, and time-based. We have the time-based part, we're working on the five year set. Yours all seem realistic and attainable. So now we need to make them specific and measureable.

For example, I want to have less body fat on me. So rather than say "less fat" I found a specific measurement that made sense in terms of my goals - 16% body fat.

So on #1, how many children's books do you have? Make that specific. Publish X children's books. Because you might start up some more in the meantime .

#2 also needs some specificity. How many would you like to have in your library in five years? Five books? Ten? Think of a number that would make you proud and is also reasonable, and put that down.

Go through your list and think of ways to quantify each one. That then helps you break down your one year list, based on these longer term goals.

Today's Earth Day challenge is to review or create your five year and one year goals! Start with the five year ones. That way you know your one year goals work in service of the longer term ones.



Post with your updates!

I last reviewed mine in January so I'm do for a quarterly review.

I thought about removing bachelor's degree from the list, as I'm so close to completing it, but I suppose it's still "not done". So I'll leave it on as a goal so I can then complete it!

The Native American book keeps lingering on there. I need to get that set. But that's also on my one year goal. What happens after that? I think I will update that so I have 5 books in that series in five years. I'd like to keep writing more. And also the other 3 books need to be updated. So I'll revise that one to having 5 fully revised books both in paperback and ebook form.

Also I'd like to start publishing sci-fi novels; I have two partially done. So I'll add that in.

I'm enjoying working on the yard, so I'll also add in having the yard area prettied up.

* Earn my bachelor's degree
* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all queues
* 5 weddings and courtships books published
* 15 medieval books published
* 5 mystery novels published
* 2 sci-fi novels published
* Earn $3000 from romance novel sales
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play moonlight sonata on piano
* Play dueling banjos on guitar

It's a brand new year, so a perfect time to review our five year goals!

I am so pleased - my bachelor's degree is now completely done and my diploma is on my wall!

I have 12 medieval books published, so that is also going smoothly!

Other areas have stalled, which means it's a good time to renew my focus on these.

Again, the long term goals aren't things you specifically aim for. They help you design your shorter term goals. They give you a direction to aim in.

So here's my new long term priorities!

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all queues
* 5 weddings and courtships books published
* 18 medieval books published
* 5 mystery novels published
* 2 sci-fi novels published
* 9 adult romance novellas published
* Earn $3,000 from romance novel sales
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play moonlight sonata on piano
* Play dueling banjos on guitar

Think about your own overall priorities, and then lay out what you'd like to have accomplished in five years!

When you have your long term priorities set, it's time to narrow down to the one year goals!

One Year Goals

It's the half-year mark - the perfect time to look at your long term priorities and see if they need adjusting. It helps you know that your daily tasks are in service of what you want to be achieving longer term.

Here's my list:

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all queues
* 5 weddings and courtships books published
* 18 medieval books published
* 5 mystery novels published
* 2 sci-fi novels published
* 9 adult romance novellas published
* Earn $3,000 from romance novel sales
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play moonlight sonata on piano
* Play dueling banjos on guitar

I now have 8 adult novellas published, so I'm nearly at the 9 book mark! Excellent. I'm working on mystery book #3. Other areas need far more work. So this is a good way to refocus myself on what I want to get done.

What do you guys have for long term priorities?

HMMM...This was not as easy as I thought it would be. I thought I knew exactly where I wanted to be until I went to write it down. My five year goals: [list] [*] Have a thriving Health and Wellness Business Have a successful Nurse Entrepreneur Toolkit on the market Financial stability [/list]

Five year goals:

1 - Be at my target weight
2 - Publish at least one Ebook.
3 - Backyard - cleaned up and landscaped.
4 - New wall to wall carpeting in the house

I'm doing well in some areas and not-so-well in others. I have 4 sci-fi stories pubished and 13 contemporary romances. But no new medieval novels.

I used to be an eternal optimist with my life planned out over the next 5-7 years and plenty of life, health &amp; business goals. Then a fortnight ago I woke up completely deaf! (Doctors still a little baffled), anyway suddenly my whole life plan that I had so meticulously crafted over many years fell apart. Literally overnight! To make matters worse, 3 days earlier I had resigned from a job I had been doing for 30 years to start a new business in line with one of my business goals. It's not all doom &amp; gloom tho, ever the eternal optimist, I have started to re-align my original goals to fit in with my condition. In short, DON'T GIVE UP ON YOUR GOALS - NO MATTER WHAT LIFE THROWS AT YOU! Re-evaluate and overcome. Just my 10p worth LBL

That is a great message, Labella! Thank you for sharing that!

OK in looking at my goals, I've reached some of them!! I have 13 adult romance novels published. I have 3 sci-fi novels published, plus another 3 dystopian novels! I'm now bringing in over $3,000/month in romance novel sales. Woo hoo!

I can also see areas where I haven't been working on the task. The house is a DISASTER. A complete mess. I haven't touched my guitar in months and only got through the mess to my keyboard once recently. There are paper piles everywhere. I haven't done any BellaOnline recruiting. I have been focused on the ebooks, which was critical to pay the bills, but it meant other things got stuck.

I need to get a balance again.

I still want to publish 5 wedding books but I haven't even finished revamping the 3 I have, now that I have regained the rights to them. It's on a back-back burner.

OK so a fresh set of 5 year goals.

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all queues
* 5 weddings and courtships books published
* 18 medieval books published
* 6 Sutton Mass mystery novels published
* 20 adult romance novellas published
* Earn $10,000/month from ebook sales
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play the Mozart song on piano

That covers a range of my priority topic areas and gives me things to drive toward. I've been pushing hard on these ebooks but I need to remember to take care of my health, too. Otherwise if I burn myself out with the book writing, and collapse, that won't help anybody.

Next up after five year goals come the one year goals - this is where you start mapping out the things you're actually working on NOW.

One Year Goals

Hi Labella, have they figured out why you woke up deaf? Joy

Hi Lisa, in your list of goals you’ve replaced 'Play moonlight sonata on piano' with 'Play the Mozart song on piano'. How did you get on with the Moonlight Sonata? Which Mozart song are you working on now? Joy

I used to have long, mid, and short term goals. But more recently, I've broken my goals down into quarters. Even though there's 15 or 16 of them (which change as I accomplish each one), I'm not limited to a handful for the year that I end up forgetting about. I'm doing well on all except the ones centered around making a profit in an online business. Lisa, you are right about getting centered. We tend to plow ahead toward one goal and everything else sort of takes a back seat. Balance is essential - not only interns of how successful you are, but in how you feel. Your overall well-being.

Joy -

I lost interest in the Moonlight Sonata song, it's a bit depressing, so I switched to another whose name I forgot . And now the music room is jammed full of stuff so I can't get to my piano. It's on my list to get that dug out again.

OMG YAY!! I am so happy to have found this thread is still active. I went back and looked at my old posts from five years ago - it seems I never actually posted my five year goals LOL.

I do know a couple I've accomplished.
But many I did not. So, back to the drawing board.

Five Year Goals as of 2015

1. Radiant Health.
2. Nurturing and supportive relationships.
3. Publish my fiction books.
4. Publish my non-fiction.
5. Grow my business.

5 years for me:
Move to Mexico
Keep writing my children's books.
Keep writing my children's magazine articles.
Monthly income to 5K+
Great health

Daisybun, how are your goals progressing?

Deanna, I looked back through this thread and read your lap harp post. What ever came of that goal?

Alice, I got more involved with my guitar And, then loaned my harp to a friend - she's a folk singer, and she and the harp became very good friends

Wow!!! This thread is SOOOOOO old. I need to revisit it!

Hi all! My 5 goals for this year are the following:
1. Learn how to swim
2. Become a member of an organization that helps homeless animals
3. Read 10 books about marketing
4. Learn German
5. Get a new job

OK so my last posting of my 5-year goals was in January 2015. Those goals were:

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all queues
* 5 weddings and courtships books published
* 18 medieval books published
* 6 Sutton Mass mystery novels published
* 20 adult romance novellas published
* Earn $10,000/month from ebook sales
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play the Mozart song on piano

So, let's see.

The weddings & courtships series is no longer a priority for me. I have over 300 books published now and that is quite low on my radar.

I am writing book 5 in the Sutton series so that continues to go one a year, which I like.

I have written 22 of the adult romance novellas, so I reached that goal.

The ebook world has changed drastically so while I did hit $10,000 in sales in a month I'm not sure that's a long term goal any more.

So I think I'm going to revise this to be:

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all mail queues
* have 400 works published on Amazon
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play ten songs on the guitar
* Play the Mozart song on piano
* Be able to watercolor paint sunflowers
* Have all college debt paid

Time again to work on my long term / 5 year goals. Remember that before you tackle this you should have set your Vision Statement / Priorities first.

OK so let's look at my current 5 year goals.

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all mail queues
* have 400 works published on Amazon
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play ten songs on the guitar
* Play the Mozart song on piano
* Be able to watercolor paint sunflowers
* Have all college debt paid

I'm working my way toward the 400 works. I've been practicing watercoloring. I am very slowly paying off that college debt.

But the house is a giant mess and so is the yard. I haven't touched the piano in ages because I can't get to it. My email is overflowing.

So I definitely need to work on some of these more diligently. Overall these are good goals. I'm happy with them.

When you are set with your five year goals, it's time to get closer in. Time to work on the One Year Goals

Hurrah! I've achieved one of my five-year goals!! I have now published over 400 different works on Amazon!

Here's my revised list:

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all active mail queues
* Have 500 works published on Amazon
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play ten songs on the guitar
* Play the Mozart song on piano
* Be able to watercolor paint sunflowers
* Have all college debt paid
* Have credit cards cleared

What's on your list?

I've freshly revised my five-year goals for 2021. I got fairly stuck in 2020. So here's my newest list. On the up side, my credit cards are now clear. I also took the guitar off the list because I just keep stopping when my fingers hurt. It seems I just don't want to play guitar enough to keep hurting my fingers, and that is OK.

* BellaOnline < 30 empty sites
* Zero messages in all active mail queues
* Have 600 works published on Amazon
* Floors and counters clear of piles
* Outside yard organized and pretty
* Do shoulder press yoga pose
* Body fat at 15%
* Play a Mozart song smoothly on piano without music
* Be able to watercolor paint my nieces
* Have all college debt paid