Defining your goals is not only necessary but healthy. By knowing what you want to attain, you can cut out many of your daily actions that pull you away from your goals. Having something to shoot for creates long term happiness through a sense of accomplishment. Here are some tips for your goal list. If you want to do this with me, open Microsoft Word now and take notes.
First and foremost, if you don't have self awareness around what you like or excel at, this will look more like a bucket list than a goal list. The point of this is to put down things that you will accomplish. Write the tasks you will do, that will earn you the jewels and vacations you desire. So, we need 2 columns. One is titled Short term Goals. The other, Long term goals. Let's start with the long term goals. Most don't but it gives you clarity on what the short term really needs to be.
To define anything you must ask questions. So we ask ourselves, what do I want to be in ten years? How do I want to coexist with my community? etc. Say you want to be a chef with 2 Michelin stars. You may want to just be a head chef. Maybe invest in a restaurant or be on Master Chef. Usually, it is a grouping of these. At most, write down 3 to 5 long term goals. This is important because it causes 3 key aspects that lead to an honest decision.
By only having 3 possible goals that you are shooting for, your actions will most likely move you closer to success with all 3. If you want to be a head chef and be a contestant on Master Chef, cooking with odd and high end ingredients will pull you closer to attaining both of these. Which leads us into our short term goals. Now that you see what your long term goals are, you may have changed your short term goals already.
As a chef, it isn't necessary to write down practice cooking, because that is assumed. But what should you be cooking to work in a Japanese or French Restaurant? Who should you be cooking for and inviting to meals? If you are in to tech and coding, you probably shouldn't be worried about a start up yet. A goal could be to focus on who you should be connecting with, to actually have impact with your creations.
Hopefully this jump starts your day to be more productive than you expected!