Do you sometimes ask yourself why you have to study certain things? Are you bored by certain topics? Maybe you even think you might have chosen to study the wrong subject? Now and again, do you find yourself questioning where you really want to go in life?
Your values and goals act like a road map or a compass for your life. They help you to make decisions, get through periods of frustration more easily and provide for a satisfied and happy life. The following information and tips can help you to define your goals and values. These will help you to succeed in your future endeavors.
Key points at a glance
- Knowing what you value will help you choose the right path and these values can help guide you when making important decisions in life.
- What values are important to you? Take the time to define your values.
- Goals are milestones along your chosen path. In order to define them, it is important to understand what they can do for you.
- Where do you want the journey to take you? Find out which goals match your values. This can help you discover the way to achieve your goals.
- Allow for wrong turns: Not everything will go according to plan. Therefore, it is important that you learn to deal with the failures and setbacks you encounter on your path through life.
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Podcast | Identifying goals (12:06)
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What does it really mean to have values and goals?
Your values are your guiding light and act as a kind of compass on the basis of which you can direct your life. And part of life is having to keep reorienting yourself to see if the direction you have chosen is still right for you or if you think it needs changing.
If you know what your values are, then you know what your goals are too. Whether these goals are achieved or not, they are simply milestones along your chosen path. For example, if being a good and reliable friend is important to you, then one goal might be to call and talk to your best friend regularly.
Naturally, your values and goals can change throughout the course of your life. Therefore, it is important that you assess them regularly so that you can be flexible and respond well to change.
Do you know what you value in life?
Everyone is different, and our values can be just as diverse.
Here are a few specific examples of values: Security, family and harmony are especially important for Anna. Lukas loves adventure, his freedom and diversity. Tim strives for success, focusing on his performance and career.
Other people value being creative, being successful, being dependable, developing as a human being, getting to know the world, taking care of their physical fitness, or living according to their faith. It is important to know your own values – but also to recognize that others may hold completely different values.
What are your values?
Do you know what you value in life? The following questions will help you determine what you value most: We tend to have different values in each facet of our lives. Think about what values are important in the individual facets of your life. These can be things like family, friends, relationship, health, hobbies, leisure, job and career, finances, or yourself personally.
For example, when it comes to friends, you might think: “It is important to me that my friends can rely on me.” The underlying values here are reliability and trust.
What areas are you satisfied with in your life? And which areas are you not so satisfied with yet? Use this to develop goals for making changes to your life. See below for more information on how to put these into practice.
If you want to continue with a consideration of your values, take a look at the following exercise and audio clips.
A brief introduction to the topic.
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Exercise
A perfect day
WITH music (4:22, 4MB)
Exercise
A perfect day
WITHOUT music (4:10, 4MB)
In this download you will find a few more examples of ways to identify and apply your values. The exercises can help you to discover what your values in life are. Choose the exercise that suits you.
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Goals will motivate you, give you structure and make you feel good.
It feels good if you know where your journey is taking you. If you know what your values are, you can take the next step and define goals on this basis.
People need goals in order to motivate themselves. Goals help you stay on track, make you aware of your priorities, and help you to deal with the frustration when something doesn’t work out. Achieving something and living in harmony with your own wants makes you happy, satisfied and improves your self-esteem.
You can make distinctions between goals for different facets of your life – for example, goals related to your studies, your relationship, your friendships, your leisure time… but it is common for some of these to overlap.
Where exactly are you at present?
Think about the goals you have in the different facets of your life. Which goals have you already achieved? Which do you still want to achieve? And what are you currently doing to achieve them?
So that your goals really motivate you, especially in the long-term and during difficult, stressful periods, it is important that you pursue your own goals, and not simply those of your parents, friends or any that you think are expected of you. Your goals should suit you and your life. They should match your values, otherwise they won’t motivate you.
Clarifying your goals
Ask yourself the following questions if you want to identify your goals: What gives me pleasure? What do I like doing? Where am I currently? Where do I want to be? When do I want to reach my goal? How do I get there?
Of course, not everything in your life can and should be planned out. There are always wrong turns and dead ends, and they are good too. Goals and wishes can change too, of course. It’s good to try out different things without knowing where they will lead and being open to new and unexpected experiences.
How to achieve your goals.
Now you know your values and goals… what next?
Choose a goal that is really important to you right now. Make sure that your goal is a positive one; for example, graduating from university: “I want to have my degree in my pocket in three semesters from now.”
Break down the goal into several smaller, more manageable stages. Don’t overdo yourself by doing too much all at once. Take small steps. Ask yourself in the morning: What can I do today to get a step closer to my goal?
Keep reminding yourself of your goals and values, as this helps to motivate you.
Properly formulating your goals
In order for goals to be achieved, they need to be “SMART”. This is an acronym, with each letter representing a characteristic.
A goal is “SMART” if it is…
Specific and clearly formulated.
Measurable so that you know when you have reached your goal.
Attractive, i.e. a desirable goal for you.
Realistic, so it demands neither too much nor too little from you.
Terminable, so you know when you begin working towards it and when you have achieved it.
Example: I want to look after my health (value) and eat more healthily (goal). So I intend to cook fresh food three times a week and go shopping for it (specific and measurable). I’ve wanted to do this for a long time; the goal is important to me and I want to achieve it now (attractive). I involved my roommate and asked them if they would join in. It works better with two people and I am less tempted to stray from my goal (realistic). I will start with a trial period which will run from now until the end of next month and then see how I’ve got on (terminable).
Learning from wrong turns.
Don’t be afraid of failures and “wrong” decisions: Mistakes can provide important information which we can use to change and improve. Don’t get hung up on setbacks. Use them to see how you could improve your planning and then continue with trying to achieve your goal. Remember, you always make decisions using the knowledge that you have at the time. You probably made the best possible decision in that moment. Even if you might do it differently now, it was the right decision to make back then.
Dealing with setbacks
Introduce a sort of ritual through which you say farewell to goals that you’ve been unable to achieve – you can lament goals that have proved impossible. Of course it’s a shame, lousy, annoying, and sad if something you have planned for or very much wanted doesn’t work out. But it is about moving on and learning from it, not staying where you are.
When things aren’t going as well as they should be.
Sometimes you have to admit that there are some things you will never achieve. You can also take a look at the information and tips in section 3.3 “Be aware of your achievements, strengths and weaknesses” under “Improving your self-esteem”.
Unsure what to do next? You can book an individual counseling session through the Mental Health Services for Students or sign up for the blended counseling module “Clarify values and goals”.