As you pursue personal success, it is important to remember that the world around us is struggling with various social problems such as poverty, hunger, lack of quality education, HIV/AIDS, climate change, cancer, and countless other issues. It is our duty as humans to make the world a better place and contribute our quota towards the fight against these problems. By taking a bit of time from our busy schedules, we can set aside some hours or even monthly or yearly goals that focus on fulfilling our responsibilities towards humanity.

Social goals can be described as the goals that connect an individual or group to their immediate environment, including making an impact, creating values, affecting lives, providing or preserving social amenities or infrastructure, solving social problems, and protecting the natural environment. This article shares some tips on how to set your own social goals, with examples of such goals to inspire you in setting your own.

Setting and pursuing social goals can remind you of your importance as a stakeholder in the overall development of society. There are diverse problems in communities and around the world that require more than government efforts, and individuals can join hands with the government to address some of these challenges. Here are some reasons why you should set social goals:

1. To Touch Lives: By setting goals to meet social needs, such as feeding the poor or educating the underprivileged, you are touching lives and transforming destinies. There are many disadvantaged people around the world who also have great potential.

2. To Find Your True Passion: Sometimes, your chosen career may not be your true passion, even if you are successful. By getting involved in some social responsibilities, you might be able to find your true passion — something to live the rest of your life for.

3. To Stay Motivated: Meeting social needs and achieving social goals can also be a source of motivation that can boost your performance in other areas of your life. Focusing on yourself and your career might lead to boredom and loss of motivation, but getting involved in something different can inspire you in other areas of your life.

4. To Boost Your Public Image: Carrying out the honest duties of touching lives and helping others can build your reputation and boost your public image. You will also get to meet a lot of people and grow your network in your social pursuits.

Now that you know how important social goals can be, here are some tips on how to set your own goals and contribute to society:

1. Consider Your Interests: To start setting your own goals, you have to start with your own interests. Search deep within yourself to know if you have had a growing concern about any group of people or any social issues now or in the past. The things that make you feel like you need to do something can help you identify the areas where you can help.

2. Do Some Research: Search your community or online to find the current needs and opportunities available to touch lives and make a positive social impact around the world. You can review the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to know the priority areas of need and use the information to draw out some of your goals. You can also talk to charities, advocacy groups, or volunteering centers to know what needs they currently have.

3. Look at Your Schedule: The time you can devote to social causes depends on your current schedule, and this will determine how involved you can be and what goals you should set. If you do not have the time, your goals can be more of a financial commitment rather than physical involvement. However, if you have more time to yourself on certain days, you can get involved physically, too.

4. Review Your Abilities: This is about your talent, skills, abilities, expertise, and resources. As much as you want to help, you can’t do anything outside of your own capacity. Check in with your abilities and resources and what needs you can meet. It may be that you do not have the capacity but can mobilize resources and expertise from other sources to meet certain needs.

5. Decide on Your Goals: You will have many options before you, but you have to decide on which goals you want to pursue based on what is most important to you, what you can devote your time to, and what your resources can handle.

Here are ten examples of social goals you can choose from to inspire your own goals:

1. Be a Volunteer: You can volunteer to teach your favorite subject at your community school, visit a senior citizens’ center to help, prepare and serve meals at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen, etc.

2. Donate a Portion of Your Income to Charity: Set a goal to donate a portion of your monthly or annual income to charity.

3. Join an Advocacy Group to Reduce Carbon Emissions: You can start or join an advocacy group to educate, enlighten, and mobilize the public on compliance with climate change.

4. Become a Mentor: Share your wealth of experience with young people in your community and guide them on what steps to take to be successful.

5. Attend Community Meetings: Keep regular attendance and participate in community joint initiatives. You can also volunteer to serve on community boards.

6. Request Charitable Donations on Your Birthdays: Use the occasion of your birthdays to make charitable donations. Asking your friends and well-wishers to support you in this initiative can yield desirable results.

7. Coach a Youth Sports Team: Raise new talent by coaching a youth sports team, and use the opportunity for youth mentoring.

8. Donate Your Old Clothes: Give out clothes in your wardrobe that you don’t get to wear often.

9. Become CPR Certified: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is a life-saving skill you can acquire to save lives in the event of an emergency.

10. Help Victims of Natural Disasters: Hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, or forest fires happen around the world, and you could help those that such disasters affect by volunteering, donating, or fundraising.

Conclusion

As you pursue personal success, you have a responsibility to make a positive impact on society. “Getting involved” can be achieved through setting and pursuing social goals in areas where you can use your time, resources and expertise to contribute to society. Remember, the small things we do to help others can make a big difference in their lives and the world around us.