Greetings Readers,
Hope all of you are doing well.
So without wasting your time, let's begin with the article.
I am sure you must have got an idea about the article after seeing the title. So let me ask a few questions.
Have you ever set a goal in your life? Remember when you were a student, did you set a goal to get A+ in your examination? What was your plan to achieve this goal?
If you have done that, then I am confident you must have an idea about goals and breaking down the goal into small tasks also known as Milestones. Today, I am going to write in detail about this topic.
What is a Goal?
Goal is a desired result, long-term accomplishments, and statements, describing what you want to achieve in life in a specific time. Goal defines where you are heading. Goal gives you a purpose and helps you in guiding and leading your own life. It is just the ultimate destination that you aimed to reach. You must set a goal for personal or business growth, a goal that motivates you to achieve something in your life.
For example, you are on the ground floor and you want to reach the top floor, now this becomes your ultimate goal. You have to use the stairs to reach your goal. When you reach the top floor, you have succeeded in achieving the goal.
There are some steps that need to be taken to reach the goal, those steps are milestones.
What is a milestone?
Milestone literally means a stone serving as a milepost. A milepost is a marker set up on the road used to show us how distant a particular place is.
As the name implies, a milestone is a progress towards our goal.
A goal defines where you are heading and milestones will help you understand if you are actually heading in the right direction towards your set goal.
For example, if you want to visit Lahore from Islamabad. The total distance between Lahore and Islamabad is 374 KM. Now, this is the goal. You will reach Kalar Kahar which is 131 Km away on your journey to Lahore. Now, this is a milestone.
Milestones are a set of smaller accomplishments, strategies, and a series of major steps planned to reach the goal. It is a breakdown of an overall mission to small and measurable goals. Milestones act as targets that are used to establish whether the project is on the track or off the track. With the help of milestones, we can easily take a decision to proceed further or reset the milestone.
A practical example from my professional life will help you in understanding the difference between goal and milestone.
I am currently working as Asst. Manager IT in a real estate company. I am responsible for monitoring and maintaining computer systems and networks. I am also responsible for purchasing new IT equipment for the office and so basically, Coordination with the vendors is also part of that responsibility.
Last month, our Human Resource department initiated a request for a New Blade Server for the deployment of new Human Resource software for payroll and attendance. They asked us to deliver it as soon as possible. Deployment of the server was the main goal for us. Now for accomplishing this goal, we were required to divide it into a few steps or milestones.
After proper planning and discussion with the department and our authorized vendors, we decided to break this goal into four milestones. We asked for 10 working days for completing the goal of Purchasing & Deploying a new server.
Milestone # 1
After verbal approval, it was necessary to take a documented approval from the management for documentation purposes. It took only a day to achieve this milestone.
Milestone # 2
After taking approval from the management, we contacted our vendors to provide us a quotation for a particular server. They provided us the quotations within two days.
Milestone # 3
We selected the cheapest quotation and instructed the vendor to provide us that particular server. Vendor asks for five days as they have to purchase it from a buyer from another city far from here. And Courier Company will take five days to courier it.
Milestone # 4
Vendor completed the task and brought the server to our office. It took us only one day to successfully deploy and install the new server.
So, we were able to successfully the goal within the given time frame.
What key attributes must we keep in mind while setting a goal and its milestones? A goal and milestones must be achievable, measurable, time-bounded, flexible, and should have an endpoint.
You must set the milestones that can be achievable. There is no way I can build six packs within a week just because I am overweight with 300 Pounds. It must take a year to only lose that weight.
Measurable in a sense, can easily be measured and tracked to see if you are close to achieving the main goal.
Time bounded means to have a deadline. You must not take your whole life to complete one damn milestone. You must complete it in a specific time frame.
Flexibility is what you need the most. Try to accomplish all your milestones, but remember you won’t meet every milestone. Don’t be harsh on yourself if it happens. Move on and set another milestone.
You must know where to take a start and where you want to end up.
Now is the time to set a goal and purpose for your life. Stop living a life without a purpose and meaning. That is the difference that sets us apart from animals.
Your goal can be spiritual, emotional, financial, professional, social, or personal. Divide your goal into milestones. Determination is the only key that will help you achieve the milestones and accomplish the goal.
Be patient and get success step by step.
Never stop celebrating after successfully completing a milestone because Nelson Mandela has said that "Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead".
Thank you for reading this article.
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