Whether you are trying to excel personally, professionally or otherwise, short term goals can help you get where you want to go. A short term goal is an accomplishment you would like to achieve within a specific time frame. These goals can provide a myriad of benefits when executed properly.

Measurable Success

One of the benefits of setting short term goals is that they provide you with measurable goals. Unlike long term goals, which are usually more abstract, a short term goal's effects can be seen as they happen. If your goal is to lose two pounds in a week, within 7 days you can look at the scale and see how you did. Measurable success like this is good because it encourages you to continue setting goals for yourself by giving you a sense of accomplishment.

Motivation

Setting short term goals is a great way to boost your level of motivation. Because they are associated with specific time frames, short term goals provide a sense of urgency to the work that needs to be finished. This urgency often translates into faster, more intensive work and allows you to see results much sooner than you would have with a more abstract goal in place.

Increased Long Term Success Rate

One of the great things about short term goals is that they are often used as components of achieving a longer term goal. For example, if your New Year's Resolution was to be healthier, then you might have a series of short term goals involving specific weight loss, limiting calorie consumption in a day, exercising a certain amount a week or dropping to certain sizes within certain time frames. This kind of short term goal setting increases the chances of you being successful in your pursuit of longer term goals.

Direction

We may often find ourselves wanting to change something in our lives, but not knowing how to get where we want. The great thing about short term goals is that they allow us to establish a path in the right direction. Even if you haven't set a long term goal, if you want to start seeing change in your life, setting a series of small, short term goals can help you begin to understand what kinds of larger changes you may want.