What makes a short-term goal easier to achieve than a long-term goal?

Answer 1

Answer

Imagine you are told to clean an entire house by yourself. Scary, huh? Lotta work? You could think of that as a "long term goal" even if it's not really the same as something like finishing medical school. Anyway, when you're thinking of cleaning the whole house, it can paralyze you just to think of how much work is involved. The whole house must be cleaned! And you're by yourself! You don't even know how to start such a thing! However, cleaning the whole house needs to start with a single step, and each further step will clean another part of it. So maybe the smart way to go about it is to set a smaller short-term goal. Say you set the goal of cleaning only the kitchen sink. You can do that much, can't you? Well, once you've cleaned the sink, you can set another goal: say, clean the stove. With that done, you get to choose another. So eventually the whole house gets clean step-by-step.

And that's how symphonies have been written, classic cars have been restored, and houses have been built, countries have been founded: One step at at time.

they keep you from getting frustrated at a lack of progress

Answer 2

Short-term goals are easier to achieve than long-term goals because they are more manageable, are typically more specific and tangible, and provide a sense of accomplishment and motivation in the short term. Short-term goals also allow for quicker adjustments and progress tracking compared to long-term goals.

Answer 3

A short-term goal doesn't take as long to reach.