From Uncertainty to Clarity: How to Identify and Pursue Your Goals and Dreams

Finding Your Purpose: Steps to Identify Your Goals and Dreams

It doesn’t just help to have a good daily routine, good habits and discipline. If you don’t know where the path is leading you, you will wander aimlessly. You should avoid this, because without goals and dreams you won’t get far in life. What good is it to be productive if all the work you do does not lead you in the direction of a good life? Therefore, you should not only consider what your goals are, but also what your dreams are. So if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, I’ll show you ways to look for answers. At the end, I will also show you the best way to plan these goals.

Identify your interests:

If you don’t have a plan for what you want to do with your life, you should first write down your interests. It’s best to write this list on a piece of paper and list all the interests you can think of. Then go through all these interests and think about which applications you can find. Most interests also have related professions that you can learn and practise. Research possible careers and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are there job opportunities related to this interest?
2. Is the income high enough?
3. Is it achievable and realistic to do this job in the future?
4. Is this a job for the rest of my life?

Once you have a list of possible interests in front of you, think carefully about whether you can imagine doing one of these jobs for the rest of your life. You have already taken an important step in the right direction. If you are still undecided, look for job fairs to get a taste of professions or seek job counselling at your nearest employment centre. If there is no such centre, an internship or a visit to the centre would help. Universities and schools also often have open days where you can get good advice.

Find your passion

The next thing you should consider is whether you have a passion. So is there something you are passionate about? Something that just the thought of it fills your blood with passion? Then you may even have found your dream. A passion will motivate you immensely, even if the road is extremely hard. Nevertheless, you should also consider whether it is realistic to live out this passion. But remember that dreams have to be achieved.

Set the right goals

Now that you know your goal, you should set your goals correctly, which is what SMART goals are for. First one means your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Your goals should therefore be formulated precisely to the point, they should be measurable, realistic, linked to your dreams and defined within a time frame. This could look like this, for example:

“In 6 months, I want to be able to lift 60kg in the chest press.”

In addition or as an alternative, you can also use the NICE goals. These are near-term, input-based, controllable and energising. Here, the focus is on short-term goals, i.e. small steps that provide a frequent experience of success. This motivates well and makes the journey seem easier. The focus here is also on concentrating on the journey. The focus is not on the result, but on the task that leads to the result. In addition, the activity that leads to the goal should be realistic; doing 8 hours of sport every day would not be easy to achieve in example. Finally, focus on a task that gives you energy, because if the task is fun, it is also easier overall. This could look like this, for example.

“Within the next 6 months I want to lift weights for 30 minutes a day, to make it more fun I’ll listen to my favourite music during the workout.”

Am besten ist du kombinierst beide Möglichkeiten, so kannst du Langfristige und Kurzfristige Ziele erreichen.

Getting Rich is not a good Goal

Finally, I must emphasise something important. Getting rich is not a good goal because it is not based on your dream, but on the desire to acquire as many materialistic goods as possible and thereby find “happiness”. Not only is this difficult to achieve, it won’t really make you happy either. Sure, there are some things and needs that everyone needs, but we are talking about abundance here. Nobody needs an abundance of material goods, what we need is a passion. This is a cycle of earning more and more money to somehow maintain feelings of happiness that disappear again and again. Without a passion in life, you will not be happy in the end.