Short-term goals are specific and measurable goals that are easy to accomplish. The benefits of short-term goals are that it helps to bridge the gap between the present and where you want to be in the immediate future.
What are short-term goals?
Short-term goals are doable plans that are comparatively easy to achieve. These are realistic by nature as people can easily focus on them and are time-bound so that desired targets can be achieved in a shorter duration.
Short-term goals are short-period goals that can last for a few months and a maximum of one-year duration but not more than that.
Individuals can set short-term goals both in their personal and professional life. Some examples are learning a new skill, keeping a diary, building an emergency fund, saving for your child’s upcoming school trips, or saving money to pay quarterly school bus fees.
Benefits of Short-term Goals
1. Provides clarity to the overall plan
The short-term goals give a clear understanding of what the ultimate objective is and how to reach it in the best possible manner. It provides clarity to the overall plan because there is a definite plan of action with shorter and more manageable steps.
Parents who are interested in creating an education corpus for their children should segregate the goal into small manageable steps.
For example, think about the immediate future and invest in small-term schemes like 6-month FDs or school fees goals on the EduFund app to save for annual school trips or quarterly school fees.
2. Gives direction and maintains focus
The benefits of setting up short-term goals are that it gives direction to your thoughts and helps to maintain focus. Once the goal is set, the path becomes clearer because you have a plan of action that simply needs to be followed.
3. Helps to prioritize
Daily, weekly and monthly planning helps people to prioritize things based on their importance and decide what, how, and when they need to accomplish the targets.
Prioritizing filters out the unimportant things that do not matter at present and are simply distracting you from the main goals.
4. Prevents a feeling of anxiety
Setting up short-term goals reduces the to-do list considerably and stops an individual from being overwhelmed with work.
When you know that things are manageable, it will automatically reduce stress, and the feeling of anxiety will also minimize. Such goals keep people on the set path so that they are not burdened by things.
When an individual invests in short-term schemes, they can easily meet an immediate or sudden financial requirement which is not possible if the amount is invested only in savings plans that are most suited for long-term financial requirements.
This will help to relieve any anxiety caused by sudden expenses.
5. Time management
Setting short-term goals are beneficial as it encourages time management, like investing to pay a credit card debt. Individuals already have a target and a plan to accomplish set goals within the time frame.
6. Achieve measurable progress
Short-term goals are measurable goals with a clear path and an end destination in sight, for example, investing to buy a laptop. It becomes easy to set deadlines, track work, see the gains made and achieve measurable progress daily.
7. Inspires to move forward
When a person has a proper plan in place, it helps to maintain focus and walk on the path diligently. You can look back and measure your growth and improvement from the onset to where you are currently standing.
When people see progress, it inspires them to move forward with more grit and determination.
8. Build momentum
When the goals are short-term, individuals tend to be full of energy as they want to take action immediately.
It is possible to see the daily progress being made and keep track of how close you are to accomplishing the desired goals.
The excitement and energy to move forward act as a motivational tool and builds momentum.
9. Overcome procrastination
Procrastination is a serious threat to goals. The best thing about short-term goals is that people do not have the time for procrastination.
The goals have a set deadline which does not allow a person to waste time as they have a path to follow where every step is already defined, like saving INR 3,000 every month for eight months to buy a laptop for higher studies.
10. Increases self-confidence
Short-term goals are clear and specific by nature that will result in measurable outcomes. Individuals are fully engaged in their tasks and are also motivated to achieve them at any cost.
Daily progress and goal achievement boost self-esteem and increase self-confidence of a person.
11. Increases the chance of long-term success
Short-term goals give quick results and keep the motivation level high. People generally divide their goals into short, mid, and long-term goals like investing in FDs, mutual funds, ETFs, etc.
The reason is that they do not want to lose focus or direction midway. The short-term goals serve as appropriate building blocks for greater dreams.
When you have achieved several such goals, then the chance of long-term success automatically increases.
Conclusion
The benefit of short-term goals is that it motivates individuals to persist in their efforts and move forward. The chance of success is much higher as people do not lose their direction or focus.
In simple terms, short-term goals promote progress and growth in both personal and professional lives.
