How to Set Your Personal Goals?

We are already into the second week of January and I haven't really sat down to write my personal goals for this year.  I prefer to say personal goals instead of New Year's resolutions.  I just think that there is this notion that New Year's resolutions don't work or they don't stick long enough.

Anyway, I Googled to look for some guidelines on how to write my personal goals and I read this Personal Goal Setting article from Mind Tools and it was really enlightening.  But I found out that I have to really sit down to be able to do it.  Why? Because instead of just writing down what I want to do for the year, it would be better to write down first my lifetime goals (what I want to do in the next 10 years or so), then break these down into smaller goals (five-year plan, one-year plan, six-month plan and one-month plan plus the daily to-do list). I think this method makes good sense as it provides a better direction for someone who wants to achieve something in life and make the most of it. 

Most of us are familiar with the mnemonic SMART when it comes to setting goals.  Whatever goals I would be writing down (yes, I have to write them down), they must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

SMART Goal Setting

I don't know how detailed I could be in writing my personal goals but I will try to do this.  Then, I can have something to look at at the end of the year to evaluate how SMART I was in setting and achieving my goals.

Got to go and work on this.  Have you worked on your personal goals?