Long term goals are longer than a year. Obviously a long term goal is to graduate with a specific degree. Another long term goal that you will have is to secure a good job when you graduate.

There are two types of long term goals:

Type 1 ● Those that you expect to occur during your life’s journey (e.g. a degree, a job, a home, a family)

Type 2 ● Those that define you as a person. These goals are special to you. For example you might have a long term goal of becoming the person that others look to for inspiration.

Type 1 Long term goals are fairly easy to set. The only challenge is how specific you want to make them.

Type 2 long term goals require a lot of personal reflection about who you are and what you want to be noted for. You may not know that now.

Here are some thoughts on setting long term goals:

1. Set 3-4 Type 1 long term goals. When you do this, specify dates for achieving the goals.
2. If you have some personal things you want to achieve in your life, see if you can describe these as goals. These don’t have to be very specific. They can be broad statements, but try to do them in terms that are specific to you. “Be successful in my career” is to broad “Be selected as a top leader in the organization where I work” is a much better goal.
3. Write down the goals and put these with personal papers that are very important to you.
4. Identify one date each year (e.g. your birthday) to review your long term goals. Overtime, the type 1 goals will be achieved and the total number of type 1 goals will decrease. The type 2 goals will become more numerous and important to you.

You may be wondering why it’s important to set these long term goals while you are in college. So many of the long term goals you will be selecting will be enabled by what you do in college. It’s really important to have these long term goals in mind as you are dealing with the challenges in college.