Young people should be encouraged to pursue long-term, realistic goals rather than seek immediate fame and recognition.

Most of the individuals in their youth have some passion, some ambition, and some dreams to fulfil. In order to reach to that zenith, it is important to set long-term goals. Setting up long term goal involves breaking it down into number of short term check points and coming up with a plan to attain them in time. The process of following this teaches an individual with many important lessons about life.

First of all, breaking a goal into sub tasks and then ensuring that these sub tasks get completed in stipulated amount of time teaches important lesson of time management. E.g. – An obese guy who has set a long term goal of reducing 40 pounds, should set a long term goal of achieving this in 1 years. He should break it down in realistic subtasks of 2-2 months like in first 2 months he will run 2 km daily, then in next 2 months he will run 4 km, then 7 and so on. It helps in better management and sustained results.

Secondly, it keeps individual focused and determined. It adds another dimension to the life of person who gets a kind of satisfaction that his life is directed towards a meaningful target which will help him become a better person. It keeps the individual motivated. E.g. – A Marathon athlete sets a long distance goal in his mind and motivates himself after every mile to keep moving. It is like teaching a lesson to oneself that life is a struggle and you have to beat it till you have your last breathe. Keeping mind focus all the time, without getting distracted by the tribulations makes person stronger at his will.

Thirdly, the joy of achieving a long term goal is beyond expression. One would have seen super stars like Roger Federer winning Wimbledon title and falling down on the ground with tears in his eye. Such an achievement would not have been possible has he not set a goal much earlier in his childhood to reach that stage. The experience is worth spending the efforts. It makes life complete.

Last but not the least, setting short term goals that seek immediate fame and recognition has merit but it lacks foresight and can possibly result in wastage of time and effort. For example, a computer science aspirant who has been working on a project from past few months comes across a coding contest which could help him earn money and recognition but can hamper the plan that he has set for completing his project. If he makes the decision to compete in the contest, he might win it but at the end he will have to bear a great loss of failing to complete his dream project in time.

Clubbing up all the points I would like to conclude that setting up long term goals help in directing the life of an individual in right direction. However the long term goals should be broken down into short term tasks and step by step effort needs to be spent in achieving these check points in time.