Part of personal goal setting is envisioning where you want to be at certain stages of your life. The one year mark might not seem significant, but in the business world it marks a milestone of one more year added to your experience. Learning to have a good idea of what your life will be like in one year will keep you target oriented in order to meet your goals and succeed.

• Start at 10: Start by working out your 10-year plan. Consider what you want to be doing in each detail of your life. Where you want to live. What kind of car you want to drive. Where you see a current relationship or if you will be in a relationship at all. Do you have kids? Would you need to go back to school?

 

• Work back to One: Once you have your 10-year plan work backward from 10 years to 1 year. Fill in the blanks of what steps you figure you will need to take in order to meet your 10-year plan during each separate year. Figure out where you want to end up from the present moment to the next 12 months and you have a starting point.

 

• Experience and Education: Considering where you want to be at the end of the year do you need to do anything in your current life such as take more courses, change your position of get more experience? Map out what needs to be done now in order to reach your one-year goal.

 

• Not Moving: In order to envision your life a year from now consider what would happen if you did absolutely nothing to change. What would it be like to have to stay in the same job for another year? If the idea is completely unbearable, start taking steps to make a move.

 

• Risks and Rewards: If it turns out you want to make a move, or even if you want to stay put, consider the risks and rewards involved with each. For example if you were to stay in your current position would it provide you with much needed experience to meet your two or five year plan, or would it interfere with your plan instead? If you decide to go, would you be walking away from potential promotions based on your current position within the company?

If each year you stop and consider what your life will be like in one year you will be able to consider what has to be done in order to succeed and meet your long-term goals. Stay motivated throughout your personal goal setting by thinking of the consequences of not meeting your 1-year goals.