ladys hands writing a list of goals on note pad

The Ultimate List of Life Goals

December 01, 201814 min read

100 goals sound like a lot, but when you read the 100 life goal examples below, you will see there are many more goals you could add to the list. This list is to get you started on your own list of goals. But first, read on about setting life goals for yourself before business goals.

When I was younger, setting goals to me meant focusing on my career. I believed at the time that if I set good career goals, all my life goals would eventuate. How wrong was I? I found I kept putting off my life goals to meet my career goals. In doing so, I was getting into a rut and unhappy as I had goals I wanted to achieve. I still have lots of goals I wish to achieve. I believe it is fantastic to have a list of life goals to achieve over your lifetime that you add to each year.

Over the years, I learned that it is best to set your own life goals before setting career or business goals. For life, goals create happiness and are generally aligned with your core values

Being there for my children as they grew up was what I wanted. This was one of my life goals which I have achieved. Yet, it took a scary incident for me to change my direction and respect that goal.

When my daughter was very young, I was driving back from work late one evening, contemplating a career opportunity. The roads were very wet and the rain torrential. Even the windscreen wipers could not keep up. On slowing down at a set of traffic lights, I succeeded in spinning my car around. All four wheels stayed on the ground, but it was scary as my car spun while I tried to regain control. Fortunately, I hit no other cars, property or people.

The incident woke me up, and as of this day, I decided to choose to work closer to home and learn skills that would provide opportunities to work around my children as they grew up. The day I chose to put life goals first once again

What is the meaning of life goals?

A life goal is an idea of a future personal outcome that a person plans and commits to achieve. In contrast, a business goal is a business outcome that a person or a group of people for the business plan to and commit to achieving.

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them”

Walt Disney

Life goals are desires people wish to achieve during their lifetime. Life goals connect with our core values, guiding us to live our best life. Your core values are the moral compass that guides you as you pursue your dreams.

Why plan life goals before business goals?

It is best to plan your life goals before your business goals. One reason for this is happiness. If you plan your business goals first, you may be unhappy, especially if your business goals do not align with your personal goals and values.
Your life goals are the goals you work on to become the person you would like to become.

Another reason to set your life goal first is to find what you want. So many people work in jobs they don’t like. In fact, many people invest a lot of time working and doing something they don’t like, thinking it is what they are meant to do. Why go to work miserable each day? Do something you love.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart you will know when you find it.”

Steve Jobs

Discover your personal life goals.

It is essential to have life goals that mean something to you. For, life goals are personal. Naturally, you may also have family, business, and relationship goals. However, life goals are something you wish to achieve to live the life you would like to live.

I’ve always been a goal-setter. Being a goal-setting does not mean I’ve achieved all my goals. In fact, I believe I’ve changed my goals many times, testing and searching for the goals that pull at my heartstrings. There have been times I thought I was going in the right direction and then discovered that my direction didn’t align with my values. For me, it is essential to have goals that align with my values in life. 

A few years ago, I reset and redesigned my life goals as I discovered I was going off track. The path I was going down was not aligning with my values, nor was it fulfilling, and I was certainly not jumping with joy every morning when I woke up. Hence, I changed my direction by discovering what was important to me. As I pivoted in my career I focussed on an old goal that was reborn, study. Goal 16 in the goal examples list.

Your ultimate life goals will take some time to achieve. Therefore, having smaller goals related to your main goal is important. As you achieve the smaller goals, they become your mini motivators, the inspiration for your big scary goal.

How to discover your personal life goals.

Before discovering your personal goals, you need to know your personal values. These core values are principles and beliefs that mean something to you now. They may change over time. The reason your values change over time is what motivates you changes over time. What motivates you as a student is different from what motivates you as a mother, which is different from what motivates you as you plan for retirement. As you can see, your values will change.

My core value was family: being there for my children as they grew up. It is still family today to be there for my children and see extended family overseas. Some other core values I have at present are relationships, freedom, balance and growth. My core values have changed as my life goals are now leaning towards life as an empty nester, planning for retirement and helping women master the skills to live a more balanced life while achieving their goals. I do not” plan to retire. Entrepreneurs are workers who enjoy what they do. It’s part of their life.

Why do Life Goals change?

Over time your goals change because your goals reflect your values, the influences around you and your capabilities or what you believe you can achieve. Your age, time, money, career, health and family all influence your goal decisions.
I’m currently in midlife, thinking of life purpose and setting goals for retirement. Many people later in life set goals for retirement or discover their passions which can lead to different life plans, career changes or entrepreneurship.

When I was younger, one of my goals was to run a marathon. I did not achieve it. I focussed on it for a while, and then it became something I no longer prioritised. It was not a key goal. Now being older, I don’t rule out rerunning 5k or 10k. However, running a marathon would be a big challenge. Oh! My sore knees. Yet, this is still a big challenge to conquer.

An ultimate life goal example would be to live a happy and fulfilling life. However, a happy and fulfilling life would mean something different to everyone.

Ways to help you manifest your life goals.

Having a personal outcome in life, including creating a dream life for yourself, takes some planning. Actually, it requires that you set an intention for your life and see yourself in your future. Achieving your dreams takes action and focus. Achieving goals do not just happen. They are achieved through daily actions.

healthy goals written in a heart

What are some examples of life goals?

Some life goals are small, yet some life goals are referred to as big hairy audacious goals. goals in the 100 life goal examples are goals you may not view as goals. We all see things differently. There are a few goals in life that I never used to view as goals, yet these actions have assisted me with achieving some of my life goals.

100 Life goal examples

  1. To find what you love to do

  2. Become a business coach

  3. Become location independent by having a laptop lifestyle

  4. Improve relationships with family

  5. To create a foundation to help youth and young adults

  6. To be at my ideal weight

  7. Live a healthy lifestyle

  8. Run in a marathon

  9. Travel to all continents of the world

  10. Become a marketing consultant

  11. Volunteer in a developing country

  12. To speak on stage

  13. Travel around Australia, visiting many of the places in Australia’s Ultimate Bucket List: The Top 100 Places You Should See In Your Lifetime

  14. To climb the seven peaks

  15. Learn to teach yoga paddling boarding – Yes, it’s a thing.

  16. Graduate from university – graduated in 2021.

  17. To live with work-life balance

  18. Become a public speaker

  19. Write a personal development book

  20. To read one book a week, currently, I listen to books via audible audiobooks

  21. Fly a plane

  22. Ice skate in New York at Central Park

  23. See the Northern Lights

  24. Go on a cruise to Alaska

  25. To be a giver

  26. To buy a family home

  27. Start a business from scratch again.

  28. To have zero debt

  29. Learn to play the guitar

  30. Build a six-figure online business

  31. Write a children’s book

  32. Generate a $5,000 online per month

  33. Walk The Camino de Santiago 

  34. Teach 1000 people blogging skills

  35. To be a beekeeper

  36. Become a blood donor

  37. Attend an All Blacks game – see the haka live

  38. Go to a rodeo

  39. Learn sign language

  40. Fly a kite

  41. Walk part of the Inca Trail, see Machu Picchu, Peru

  42. Learn backgammon

  43. Learn karate

  44. See a wild koala

  45. Swim with sharks

  46. Learn to play the harmonica

  47. Spend a month being pampered at a health retreat

  48. Learn chess

  49. See the Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt.

  50. Develop the skill of drawing beautiful pictures like Rose Hill

  51. Learn how to ride a motorbike

  52. Knit 100 blanket squares for charity

  53. Help out at a homeless shelter

  54. Go to the Super Bowl

  55. Start a non-profit organisation

  56. Train a seeing-eye dog

  57. Go to Las Vegas

  58. See a Broadway musical

  59. Sell products on Amazon

  60. Have a personal trainer

  61. Run in a 10k charity race

  62. Cycle on a tandem across the state for charity

  63. Go white water rafting in New Zealand

  64. Attend the country music festival in Tamworth

  65. Write a guest blog post

  66. Jump out of a plane – with a parachute of course. Tandem Jump.

  67. Swim with dolphins

  68. Be an extra in a movie

  69. Learn Reiki

  70. Do a firewalk

  71. Go barramundi fishing

  72. Live debt-free

  73. Have an emergency fund that is to the value of at least a years income.

  74. To go on a bobsled ride in St Moritz

  75. To walk every day for a year 10,000 steps

  76. Stay at a spa retreat 4 times a year

  77. To go on a date night every week with my husband

  78. Fly first class

  79. Be featured in a magazine

  80. To experience van life for a year.

  81. Master 10 yoga poses

  82. Be a role model, be inspiring

  83. Attend a formula one race

  84. Snorkel in the Maladies

  85. Go to the Taj Mahal

  86. Walk over the Zhangjiajie glass bridge, China

  87. Playoff a single golf handicap

  88. Own a classic car

  89. Eat at a 50’s American diner

  90. Walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

  91. Drive a race car around a race track

  92. Attend Bathurst 1000, V8 race

  93. Attend the Summernats in Canberra.

  94. Visit Arnhem land, Australia.

  95. Walk The Great North Walk, Sydney to Newcastle NSW, Australia

  96. Renovate a small home

  97. Grow my own fruit and vegetables

  98. See St. Basil Cathedral, Moscow

  99. Live in alignment with my values

  100. Enjoy life to the fullest

Hopefully, these life goal examples have assisted you. However, if you are still stuck on defining your goals, here are 8 tips to help you set and achieve your goals.

Where to track your goals.

There are many different ways you could keep track of your goals or commence your 100 goal list.

  • Write your life goals in your daily journal or in a life goal journal specific to writing and breaking down your goals into those manageable goals.

  • Use a printable template to write down your goals.

  • Put your goals on your vision board.

  • List your goals on a program you use on your computer.

  • Keep your goals in a phone app. Remember to back up and download your goals list. You don’t want to lose it. (yes, speaking from experience).

The three types of goals to set in life.

There are three types of goals to set in life. A goal may assist with the progress towards a larger goal or be time or topic based.

Time goals are either long or short-term. An example of a long-term life goal would be to run a marathon with a short-term goal of learning to run. Naturally, when you learn to run, you commence with running shorter distances.

Focus goals. There are the big hairy audacious goals. To clarify, it’s the goal that drives decisions. The big goal must have an emotional attachment for you to remain focused.

Topic goals are goals that are precise and topic-based. Long- and short-term goals, as do personal and business goals, fall in this category. In short, these goals come under specific aspects of life and can be long or short-term goals.

Aiming to create a work-life balance involves balancing many areas of life. Thus, having eight topic goals for life balance is not unusual. Understanding the life wheel is an excellent place to start with writing down your goals for a more balanced life.

What are big hairy audacious goals?

A BHAG, a big hairy audacious goal, is usually a long-term goal, an ultimate life goal. A goal that may take 5 or 10-plus years to achieve. This goal will get you out of your comfort zone and certainly test you.

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years”

Bill Gates

Some big hairy audacious goals are in the list of personal goals above. Everyone is different; what is scary to one person may not be to another. Also, what is audacious to one person may not be to another. An audacious goal, though, is one you may not achieve. However, it is one that stretches you beyond belief to achieve. As you strive for your big goal, you will achieve many smaller goals along the way. One thing to note is if you know you can achieve the goal, it is not big enough.

Example of BHAGs

  • To sail around the world

  • To be a blogging influencer

  • Be the go-to person in your field or industry

  • To be a speaker on a TED Talk show

  • To be your own boss

  • Be a top 10 author

  • To climb Mt Everest

  • To live in Thailand for a year

  • To spend a year travelling around Australia

  • To write a book

  • To graduate from university

Life goals may look big and out of reach. Yet, every life goal can be broken down into smaller action steps. It’s mastering habits that help with the achievement of goals. The key to remember is a little action goes a long way.

Did you know when you share your goals, you are more accountable to them? Share one or some of your goals in the comments below. Let’s grow the life goal examples list together.

Angie empowers busy women to cultivate the confidence and skills needed to create a balanced, fulfilling life. Understanding the challenges of juggling daily demands while pursuing personal goals, she recognizes how easy it is to fall into routines that leave little time for self-care and growth. Through intentional daily actions, Angie is transforming her own life, stepping into her ideal day and achieving her goals. Now, she passionately guides women to visualize, set, and accomplish their own aspirations, helping them grow in confidence and take control of their lives.

Angie

Angie empowers busy women to cultivate the confidence and skills needed to create a balanced, fulfilling life. Understanding the challenges of juggling daily demands while pursuing personal goals, she recognizes how easy it is to fall into routines that leave little time for self-care and growth. Through intentional daily actions, Angie is transforming her own life, stepping into her ideal day and achieving her goals. Now, she passionately guides women to visualize, set, and accomplish their own aspirations, helping them grow in confidence and take control of their lives.

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