20 Dreams and Goals Examples to Inspire You

You have probably been told how important it is to have big goals and a big dream. But knowing what your dreams and goals should be isn’t always easy. The dreams and goals examples we share here will point you in the right direction to find inspiration!

Everyone has their own personal goals and different ways of reaching them. We all have our own individual life purpose, so no one can tell you exactly what your dreams and goals should be for your life.

But, our hope is that by reading these 20 dreams and goals examples, you will find inspiration to set goals of your own in order to live out your biggest, craziest dreams!

Setting SMART Dreams and Goals

Some people dream of having their own business, while others are interested in focusing on personal growth goals. Regardless of what your important life goals and dreams are, the first step is to make sure that they are SMART.

Using the SMART framework helps to make sure you are setting:

• Specific goals: What specific actions will you need to take to reach your goal or dream?
• Measurable goals: How will you know when you have achieved your goal or dream?
• Achievable goals: Are you setting realistic goals that are actually possible to achieve?
• Relevant goals: Are you setting value-driven goals? Do they connect to your sense of purpose?
• Goals that have a time frame: Can you describe when you should have reached your goal by?

Now, just because a goal is SMART doesn’t mean it can’t be ambitious, or even a tad bit ridiculous. At Joyful Through It All, the main goals we work toward in our lives are ridiculously ambitious (see example #20 on the list below!).

But remember, important life goals should stretch you outside of your comfort zone. This way you know they are possible, but they are inspiring enough that you want to pursue them.

Whether you are setting short-term goals or long-term goals, you should be able to set and follow an action plan to achieve them. Because without a plan, goals and dreams are just wishful thinking!

Let’s get into these 20 dreams and goals examples!

Personal Growth Dreams and Goals Examples

Personal growth is about becoming the best version of yourself. Because of this, dreams and goals examples of personal growth are going to look differently for everyone.

Some people are looking to set short term goals to get them through a rough patch. While others are looking to set long-term goals for lasting change.

In either case, these examples will inspire you to set personal goals and important life goals for your own personal growth!

#1. Complain Less

Have you ever noticed how much people complain? Our culture has almost conditioned us to do it without thinking!

Complaining less may not be a big dream of yours, but try to set a goal to catch yourself next time you start complaining. Try to focus your thoughts on what you can do to change things instead. This can be hard work, but your life will thank you for it!

#2. Express Gratitude More Often

After you’ve kicked complaining, focus in on expressing gratitude more often. Instead of thinking about how much you don’t have, take a moment to look around at all of the good things you have to be thankful for. Focus on how good life really is!

And don’t stop there! Gratitude works the best when you share it with others. Work it into your conversations with your family and your co-workers. Gratitude has an amazing transformative power!

#3. Live with Intention

Living with intention means having a good understanding of your life purpose. Intentional living happens when everything that you do aligns with that purpose.

This isn’t something that happens overnight. But take a moment to think about your life, your routines, and your habits. How much of it feels purposeful? What does your dream life look like in comparison?

#4. Change Your Mindset

Many people go their entire lives without really thinking about the mindset that they use. However, taking a moment to intentionally pursue a healthy mindset is a very important thing!

Think about how you respond to failure. Do you search for growth opportunities? Or do you give up and shame yourself for not being better?

Your mindset is what controls how you make sense of the entire world around you. So take a moment to think about what you want yours to be!

You might like this post about the different types of mindsets if you are interested in learning more!

#5. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone and Take Risks

Being comfortable is great. But you could spend your entire life staying in your comfort zone without really experiencing what life has to offer.

The best growth opportunities happen when we take risks. So go out, make a few mistakes and see what you can learn. And enjoy all the good life has to offer when you are vulnerable and make mistakes!

Your comfort zone will always be waiting for you when you need a breath. Just remember not to stay too long!

#6. Set Boundaries in Your Relationships

The odds are there is at least one important relationship in your life that causes you stress. If you are invested in your own personal growth, set a goal to work up the courage to set boundaries in a stressful relationship.

This can be hard work, and there is the potential for hurt feelings. But having a vulnerable conversation with someone you care about is the best way to show up for yourself and take control of your own life.

#7. Stop Being a People Pleaser

The world loves to tell you what to do! How many of your decisions do you make by yourself, for yourself?

If the version of you in your dreams lives with confidence, this is one of the specific goals you may want to set for yourself!

#8. Make Self-Love a Regular Habit

With so many people relying on you, it can be hard to remember to take care of yourself. When it comes to personal growth, setting personal goals to make a conscious effort to show yourself some love is an important thing.

Let go of the negative self-talk from your subconscious mind. Put in the hard work to start believing that you are enough. Do whatever it takes to remind yourself that you are worth taking care of!

#9. Learn to Give Yourself Grace

Set a personal growth goal to remind you to forgive yourself next time you fail or make a mistake.

It is natural to want to beat yourself up when things don’t go your way. But, the reality is, we are all human and we all make mistakes.

If we let them, mistakes can teach us how to do better next time! So, instead of beating yourself up, focus on what you can learn from your mistakes.

#10. Find Your Life Passion

Life is full of meaning and purpose when you have a good understanding of your life passion!

When you have a passion for something, it brings you so much joy that you want to just do it all the time. If you can find a way to set big goals that use your passions, reaching your dreams won’t feel like hard work!

Take some time to reflect on what lights your soul on fire. Set a goal to do that very important thing regularly and soon you will see just how good life can get!

#11. Find Your Life Purpose

It may seem like a big dream, but try to set a personal growth goal to discover your life purpose.

It sounds like an impossible task, right? Don’t people spend their entire lives wondering what the purpose of life is?

In some cases, yes! But searching for your life purpose with intention, means that you are open to living a life of purpose. And this beats going through the motions!

Career Dreams and Goals Examples

Just like your personal growth goals or dreams, career goals are unique to each person. Use these examples to inspire you to set your own career goals!

#12. Quit a Job You Hate

Do you love what you do for work? Or do you dread going in every Monday morning to do the same boring job you’ve done for years?

A common myth people tell themselves is that they can’t quit their job. It is so easy to make up stories that keep us in work that we hate. For example:

• I can’t quit! Who would pay my bills?
• I’ve been working here for 25 years! Isn’t it a little late to quit?
• I will never find another job!

As a former teacher, I spent years arguing with myself about why I couldn’t leave the profession. But, as it turns out, quitting teaching was the best thing I ever did!

If your job is keeping you from reaching your personal goals, it is never too late to make a change. Think about your long-term goals. Is your job helping you work toward them? Or is your work keeping you from pursuing your big dream?

#13. Find Work You Are Passionate About

How many people do you know that absolutely love their work?

It is common for people to end up feeling stuck in jobs that they aren’t passionate about. But when we are passionate about our work, it doesn’t feel like work at all!

If passion is important to you, and you can’t find it in your current job, you may want to set career goals that take you toward work you are passionate about.

If you aren’t ready to quit, that’s okay! Quitting isn’t the only way to find passion in your work! Sometimes all it takes is the right mindset.

#14. Develop a Set of New Skills

Another way to find passion in your work is to set a goal to develop new skills. If you are feeling stuck or bored with your work, developing new skills may help you feel challenged.

Many people believe that learning new skills is a big scary process. But the reality is, it has never been easier to learn something new. We live in an age where information and knowledge is quite literally at your fingertips.

During my transition away from teaching, I took a few courses online to level-up my coding and web design skills. It totally reinvigorated me and helped me find a new passion and new career goals!

#15. Start a Side Hustle

Being paid to do something you love is an incredible feeling! But it isn’t always easy to find the time with the demands that you face throughout the week.

If you ever feel stuck or bored with your job, set a goal to start up a side hustle that lets you engage in your passions.

This goal doesn’t have to be as ambitious as starting your own business. Start by setting a goal to find different ways that you could do something you love while making money. Spend a few hours a week working toward getting a side hustle started.

#16. Start Your Own Business

Not everyone has career goals and dreams of starting their own business. But the freedom of being your own boss is pretty enticing!

Starting your own business seems like a big dream when you are starting from the ground up. But, a side hustle is a step in the right direction toward your own business! Set goals with specific actions that will take your side hustle to the next level!

What starts as wishful thinking could transform into your reality with hard work!

Financial Dreams and Goals Examples

Like personal goals and career goals, financial goals and dreams look different for us all. This is especially true since we don’t all have the same jobs or income sources.

When you have big goals and a big dream, anything is possible if you put in the hard work to make it happen. Financial goals are no different!

#17. Start Saving Money

The first step to reaching your financial goals is to start saving!

This isn’t one of the most specific goals for your finances, but making a plan to change your spending and saving habits is a healthy way to overhaul your financial state.

All it takes is making a few small lifestyle changes to completely change the way you save your money!

#18. Take Budgeting Seriously

You can’t commit to saving money without a good budgeting tool! A budget is an excellent tool that summarizes how much money you have coming in, and where you are spending it!

Have you ever had that feeling where you just can’t seem to figure out where your money went this month? Using a budget is the most important thing you can do to start tracking where your money goes.

Start by writing out all of the things you spend your money on regularly. Write all of the possible ways you make money during the month. Then, throughout the month, keep track of how much you are actually spending and what you are spending money on.

Next month, see if you can find ways to spend less in your heaviest spending areas. It takes a bit of adjusting, but over time you will see results!

#19. Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half

Aside from housing expenses like a mortgage or rent, grocery bills are the greatest expense for most families. If you are looking to save money, spending less money on groceries should be one one of your most important financial goals!

There are many different ways you can save money while grocery shopping. Consider meal planning, ordering groceries online, and stocking up when things are on sale!

#20. Build Your Dream Home

This might be the biggest of the bigger goals on this list!

Think of all that you would have to have accomplished to be able to build the house of your dreams. Odds are, this means reaching many of your personal goals, career goals, and financial goals!

Building your dream home is such a big dream that it can be hard to even imagine reaching it. But, setting and working toward reaching many of the goals on this list will point you in the right direction of this crazy goal!

Goal Planner Printable

If you are looking for more inspiration after reviewing these dreams and goals examples, it may be helpful to take some time to reflect and plan.

In our home, our family finds it helpful to use a goal planner printable. We created this goal planner printable to help us lay out a goal, the reason why we want to reach it, as well as any obstacles we may face.

We love this goal planner because it helps us be intentional about setting our goals! And coming up with an action plan ahead of time helps ensure that we are successful!

Stay Joyful… Through it All!

Working toward reaching your goals and dreams is hard work and can take a long time. But, remember that goal setting and dream chasing should be a positive experience!

Personal growth is a journey that you choose to go on. It shouldn’t be something you feel forced into doing. That’s why personal goals are personal. They are important life goals you set for yourself.

So, enjoy how good life feels when you are working toward something that is important and meaningful to you. And remember that slow progress is better than no progress!

You don’t always have to have a big dream or big goals. It is okay to work away at smaller goals. This is how big goals are born! Before long, you will be well on your way working toward your big dream.

Remember that it isn’t just about reaching the finish line. Being intentional and engaging in the whole process is what makes setting goals and reaching dreams so exciting!

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends and family on social media! If you know someone who could use some help setting goals and chasing dreams, this post could be just what they need!

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