Difference Between a Long-term and a Short-term Life Goal (Essay Sample)

Difference between a long-term and a short-term life goal
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Difference between a long-term and a short-term life goal
Goals are targets that individuals set to motivate them towards working hard and achieving visions. Setting goals involves thinking about the future and motivating oneself towards turning visions into reality. Turning visions into reality involves laying down strategies such as setting realistic goals. Business people, top-level athletes and achievers in all fields use goal setting as a tool of motivation (Mladjenovic, 2009). Goals are also set to boost one’s confidence in performing a task. Goals are fundamental in one’s life as they set ways for achievement, self-confidence and motivation. There are two types of life goals, which include a long-term and a short-term life goal. This essay will examine the difference between a long-term and a short-term life goal.
A long-term and a short-term life goal require good management and planning. Individuals or companies use contingency strategies to plan for long-term goals. This involves planning ahead of time. Short-term goals require immediate accurate planning as they are short lived. Long-term goals are more likely to be complex as compared to short-term goals. Therefore, long-term goals require extensive planning. Long-term goals require experts in planning sector due to their complexity nature. This is absence in short-term goals as they are short lived and do not require backup plan. Backup plan is vital in long-term goals, in case of unexpected downfalls (Shulman, & Singleton, 2010).
The working methods of short-term goals vary from that of long-term goals. One can complete the work needed for the short-term goal all at one time. Long-term goals are interspersed with working on various short-term life goals. Long-term goals, therefore, requires more time to work on than short-term goals. Long-term life goals require focus for weeks or months while short-term goals require a week or a few days. Long-term goal has many goals as compared to short-term goal that has one goal. Long-term life goals require more than one person or department to complete the whole task. This is less likely in short-term life goals than in long-term goals. Long-term life goals, therefore, require much time and finance as compared to short-term goals (Shulman, & Singleton, 2010).
Project evaluation is different in short-term and long-term goals. In short-term goals, after completion of the project there is evaluating of the goals. In long-term goals, individuals evaluate the goals when the project is still in progress. This allows changing of strategies if the project is not working as originally planned. The evaluation also allows additional of necessary work in long-term goals. Ongoing evaluation is fundamental in long-term goals as the business environment may vary as the project progress. This allows adjusting of long-term goals to allow achieving of the initial goal. Short-term goals do not require ongoing evaluation as they are short lived (Mladjenovic, 2009).
In conclusion, there are differences between long-term and a short-term life goals. Management and planning are one of the differences between a short-term and a long-term life goal. This results from the complexity nature of long-term goals. Working methods also vary in a long-term and a short-term life goals. Long-term life goals in...