It isn’t uncommon for people to have aspects about themselves or their lives that they don’t like. The good news is that there are steps to setting goals that anyone can take to change themselves or their circumstances in life. The best part is that even minor changes can yield big results over a long enough period of time.

What Is Your Ideal Life?

The first step to making changes in your life is to figure out what you would be doing if you were a divine being. For instance, you may have always had your heart set on being a musician or being a professional soccer player. While you may not be able to become a professional soccer player at age 50, it may be possible to resolve to join a rec league or coach your children’s team to get involved in the game that you love.

This also applies to the career that you want to pursue. If your career goal is in the engineering field, getting the right qualifications and knowledge is always a good start and with online programs offering civil engineering masters degree, you’ll be able to do so now with relative ease.

Achieve Your Goals in a Healthy Manner

For many people, losing weight is one of their top priorities. Some may even resort to resources like that of Xyngular on Tumbler that help people accomplish that goal. However, it is important to do so gradually regardless of how much that you want to lose. At most, you can lose about one or two pounds a week. Shooting for anything more than that could result in your body going into starvation mode. In many cases, it is better to make changes such as eating more vegetables or working out more. Even if you don’t lose weight right away, you will start on the path to a healthier body.

Setting Goals within Goals

If your goal is to lose 50 pounds, you may want to start by aiming to lose 10 pounds in the next 10 weeks. This gives you a chance to adjust to your new lifestyle without feeling overwhelmed. Once you lose those first 10 pounds, you can commit to losing another 10 pounds in 10 weeks. Before you know it, you are several months into your quest to lose weight and have started to develop positive habits to get there. Such a strategy can also be effective when trying to learn a new skill or otherwise trying to accomplish any other long-term goal.

Keep Track of Your Progress

One of the best ways to improve yourself is to keep either a written or video journal. This allows you to write down the reasons why you have chosen a particular goal and how you will achieve it. It may also allow you to think about any roadblocks that may be in the way of your success and how you will overcome them. Writing down your successes and failures during your journey to self-improvement may help you to pick up on strengths or weaknesses that you weren’t aware of before. Knowing yourself will often make setting goals easier to become the person who you want to be.

Don’t Be Discouraged by Setbacks

The only thing in life that is guaranteed is that nothing is guaranteed. The birth of a child could derail your financial goals while an injury could keep you from competing in a marathon that you trained so long to run in. It is important that you don’t let temporary setbacks overwhelm you or sour your attitude. Instead of being angry, embrace the fact that you have a son or daughter to enjoy or pick up a new skill while recovering from a physical injury.

Everyone has a set of skills or talents that can take them far in life. While we may not discover them until later in life, it is never too late to start setting goals. By envisioning what you want for yourself, it becomes easier to make a plan for how you make the most of your time on Earth.