How to stay determined at goals I set out to achieve, how to make the right choices

Hello and thank you for asking a question here on BetterHelp. Trying to stay motivated can be extremely difficult. Especially when we recognize there are a bunch of barriers between us and our goals, or when we are aware it will take years and years to reach our goals. I've got a few pieces of advice that I think could really help you though.

First of all I would like to say that making goals like you are is incredibly smart, we need goals in our life in order to have some thing we are actively working towards. When we don't have goals and we're just living life day by day not really knowing where we are going we'll end up depressed. Having goals gives us something to look forward to in the future and ensures that we are consistently trying to grow.  
Whenever it comes to making goals I encourage the people I work with to follow the acronym SMART.

• SPECIFIC: The first word is specific, our goals need to be very specific. When we make a goal like, "I want to go to college," then we are starting off on the wrong foot, A better goal would be something along the lines of, "I am going to go to an in-state public school that is ranked in the top 10 of my state." We need to be very specific because it helps narrow the path you need to go down, if you were to take the first goal I presented, it isn't specific enough. 
• MEASURABLE: The next letter in the acronym is M, which stands for measurable. Your goal needs to be measurable in someway, sticking with the theme of getting into a top 10 school, you can measure that goal by the amount of accomplishments you have made that will lead to you getting into a top 10 school. Measuring your success along the way to accomplishing your goal is so vital because it motivates you, you recognize your accomplishments and you can feel the progress. This results in you feeling productive, which leads to you feeling even more motivated to continue with your goal. Having a goal that is measurable also allows you to reevaluate your goal in case you need to make any changes. It is very common to set a goal, get moving on the journey towards that goal and realize you need to adjust that end goal to be more realistic for you.
• ATTAINABLE: The next letter is A, which stands for attainable. We need to make sure that your goal is possible for you to reach within a certain timeframe. This is something that could easily be adjusted when you measure your progress. You may realize that the goal you set is no longer attainable so you need to reset the goal to something that you can actually reach. And this would be a danger you could run into with cryptocurrency, is it possible to do well through online trading with cryptocurrency, absolutely. Is it common? No not at all. Some people have done well with it, but most people end up losing money or making no money at all. Not only do people end up losing money but they also have to deal with the extreme stress of online trading for something that never closes and can be traded 24 hours a day. It is volatile and can be very difficult to predict, is it possible that the future involves a lot of cryptocurrency? Absolutely, but right now most of the people who invest in it to make money end up losing money or not making any. You must honestly ask yourself if this goal of yours is attainable, because if it realistically isn't then you are going to be extremely stressed and unmotivated. You will end up feeling like a failure for trying to reach a goal that isn't reachable. And that is the last thing I want for you. 
• RELEVANT: The next letter is R, which stands for relevant. This is part of the acronym because it's important that your goal align with your values and your long-term objectives in life. Your goal should also be relevant to the things you are good at: if I were to set a goal to be a professional cricket player it wouldn't be relevant to my life because I've never played before. Make sure your goal is relevant to your skill sets, your personality and your objectives in life.  
• TIMELY: Finally your goal needs to be timely, for the final letter of the acronym T. There must be some sort of time-based goal in order to motivate you to continue as well as to give you something to look forward to.

I'd like to end this with encouraging you on some other things in life as well. Whenever I meet with people I tell them there's three things they need in their life for satisfaction. 

• The first of those is a caring community, you need people in your life that care about and support you and people that you care about and support back, we need trustworthy friends in our life and we need to be a trustworthy friend.
• The second thing is productivity, we're not meant to sit on the couch and watch Netflix or flip through social media all day, we thrive of being productive and that's what we need to do. You can be productive through employment you have purpose in, volunteering, exercising, cooking a good meal for yourself for tidying up your living area. Find ways to be productive and it will motivate you to be even more productive.
• The final thing is high-quality rest, this isn't about sleeping but instead is about having something in your life that you do just for you simply because you want to. We need something to get us away from the hustle and bustle or daily grind of life. In my own life it's traveling and being outdoors, I make time for being outdoors regularly and I am always planning new trips and going to new places. Having something like this gives us something to look forward to on those difficult days. Do you see any room for improvement in these three areas?

I hope you're able to find something in here that helps and I wish you the best of luck!