The 7 Most Popular Life Goals And How You Can Achieve Them

If I were to ask you what your number one goal is right now, I bet it would be in this list.

1. I want to write a book  

2. I want to start a business  

3. I want to be healthier  

4. I want to travel  

5. I want to make money doing something I love 
6. I want to do something positive for the world/volunteer.  

7. I want to reduce my stress (money worries, relationship worries, etc) 

This is a pretty ambitious list of things to want to do. Do you see yourself here? And if so, what have you been doing to try and achieve one or more of these?

Dreaming and doing are two different things. If you've been dreaming of a goal for weeks, months or even years now, here are some simple ways to make any of your goals come true. 

Life Goal #1: I want to write a book

In order to write a 50,000 word book in 30 days, you'll have to write 1,667 words per day. Sound like a daunting task? Stretch it out into a three month or six month process, and the numbers drop to 556 or 278 words per day respectively.

The problem isn't in creating the book; its usually in finding the time to do it. When you look at it in a slightly different format - I'll write my book in six months - it gives you a new perspective. If you normally get up at 7 in the mornings, get up at 6 and dedicate that hour to writing your 278 words. While the first few days might be extremely difficult to get your 278 words out, by the time you're several weeks into the project, 278 words will fall out in a few minutes time.

You can also dedicate time to your new found craft to make things easier. There are many writing and self-publishing groups online and in your local area. Consider joining a group like National Novel Writing Month to keep you on track with your writing. Or read one of the many books on publishing your own book - try APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur - How To Publish a Book 

Life Goal #2: I want to start a business

Starting a business has never been easier. It doesn't take a lot of time. It doesn't take a lot of money. And it no longer takes a lot of resources. If you have a laptop and Internet connection, you can set up a portable business from just about anywhere. In the book Laptops Millionaire it provides many ways to turn ideas into something we can do from our kitchen table, no matter what city our kitchen table is currently located in.

The problem with setting up a new business is overwhelm. If you've been thinking about starting up your own business for a while now, what's holding you back? Chances are it's the complexity of your goals. Instead of saying "I'm starting up a business", change it to something more manageable, such as "I'm printing up business cards today". All of a sudden you can quickly see your goals fall into place, just by shrinking up the requirements you think about every day. 

Life Goal #3: I want to be healthier

Why doesn't a diet work? Because you're not going to the root of the problem. Ask anyone on a diet how they are doing, and you'll start hearing a list of "I can'ts". I can't have this. I can't do that. A brain on "can't" will never make it.

When I decided to go vegetarian, I never once thought of all the things I couldn't eat. Instead, I focused on the delicious foods I got to eat. When I reduced the amount of sugar I take in to almost nothing, I never looked at sweets longingly. Instead, I chose to eat things I knew were healthy and made me feel better both inside and out.

In order to be healthier, you have to learn to turn your can'ts into cans. Commit to something you believe in - becoming vegetarian for instance - and do everything you can to turn that into a lifestyle. Buy a vegetarian cookbook - The Happy Herbivore is one of my favorites - and pick out one recipe for every day of the week. Add those ingredients to your shopping list, and make the time to incorporate them into your meal planning. 

Life Goal #4: I want to travel

What does travel mean to you? Do you like to get away for the weekend? Or does around the world travel, 365 days of the year fit more into your plans?

One of the best ways we've found to get more out of our travel bucks is to rent apartments and homes instead of staying in a hotel. Last year we spent six weeks in Spain and Italy, and rented two bedroom apartments in every city we visited. We had beautiful kitchens and used them almost daily for breakfast, lunch and dinners. We packed picnics when we went sightseeing for the day, and only rarely took in fancy restaurants. I guarantee we saved hundreds of dollars this way (and its healthier too) - which meant we could easily boost our travel time to six weeks on the savings. HomeAway and Vacation Rentals are two great resources for you to find cute vacation rentals right in the heart of everything.

Life Goal #5: I want to make money doing something I love

Let's face it, we all get sick of "life" on occasion. But if you find yourself sick of your day job every single day, it may be time to re-evaluate what makes you happy.

If you are one of the people that exists at work because you don't know what else to do, and a "big idea" has never hit your consciousness, it may be time to focus in on what will make you happy  right now.

Looking for one great idea puts too high of expectations on your lifestyle. Instead, simplify it and look at what you enjoy today and what you can see yourself doing right now. Focus in on the present, not what is feasible a decade or more into the future. By turning to who you are today and what's possible with your knowledge right now, its easier to focus in on things that are possible.

Life is full of opportunity. You just have to focus on what's possible right now in the present.

Life Goal #6: I want to do something positive for the world/volunteer

Sometimes a change of scenery is all you need to make you look at the world a little differently. Why not volunteer? You can take the traditional road and volunteer for something right in your own community, like Habitat for Humanity. Or combine your volunteering with a travel opportunity with organizations like Heifer International.

Volunteering can quickly set you up for finding a passion in your life. From there you may decide to help others set up their own life's purpose with places like Kiva. Or fund your own ideas with a place like Kickstarter. 

Life Goal #7: I want to reduce my stress (money worries, relationship worries, etc)

Think stress has to be a part of your life? Think again. Get to the root of the problem and eliminate it.

Stress doesn't go away without working at it. Stress is simply an outward expression of your reaction to something going on in your life. And if you don't change the pattern, it will continue to fester and grow until it impacts your life and/or your health.

You can start by taking control over your health. Meditation is a great way to put everything else aside and increase the peace you feel from the inside out.

Have specific issues going on in your life right now that you want to change? Don't go it alone. Sometimes an outside perspective can help you see things in an "a-ha" way. I've helped hundreds of people through my coaching programs. Being able to see things in a new light, and change your approach can truly put you on an entirely new path.

Do you see yourself in any of the above? Quit dreaming about it and just do it.

Starting AND Finishing Your Projects

Do you often find yourself at the starting gate, but somehow never actually get started?

You have done ALL the due diligence you can do at this point, without breaking the bank. You have company you like, you have found your perfect URL, you have found the perfect hosting package, you feel like you are on a roll, then NOTHING. All that work and effort just fizzles out. 

 This is something that I am still guilty of, believe it or not it really grinds my gears!

There are so many great ideas that end up withering away because of a variety of reasons, it can be because of self-doubt maybe even procrastination.

If that sounds like you, then you need to introduce some active inertia into your life.

Active inertia is what happens when you commit to a project or an idea which will move along and PULL you along with it. In effect what happens is that the idea/project begins to drive itself, and takes you along for the ride.

How do you get active inertia?

It's not something that you can go out and get in the shops, you get it little by little, you will bring the project to life. 

Firstly, you make it real - some people feel that putting it in writing is the only way that you can do this effectively, personally I find that telling close friends and relatives does just that for me. I do this because I work better under a little bit of pressure, so telling people about my plans, gives it momentum that drags me along with it. 

Secondly, make it urgent - impose a real deadline on yourself, this is where I feel telling people helps, because it serves 2 purposes telling people makes you put a deadline on when you want things completed by, or at the very least be a way point to check for progress. 

Thirdly, you should make it important, from personal experience I have found that you CAN control your interest in any particular thing you are interested in. If you find ways to make your plans vital to your life, they will, vitalize your life. 

Finally, build in momentum. It is a lot more difficult to stop something once you have started it, it pays to think about your idea or project three maybe four steps ahead, because when you do this you will find that completing one task will just push you along to the next step in the process. 

Think about it like this, A line of dominoes is virtually impossible to stop once it has started toppling, but every domino has been put in place long before the first one was knocked over. Knocking over that first piece just carries that momentum onward till all the dominoes have collapsed. 

 If you start implementing these for steps then you should find that less and less projects or ideas will ever be left to wither and die. Using active inertia will see through the procrastination phase and see you through getting your ideas of the starting blocks, and drive you towards the finishing line every time.