How to Achieve Your NeoGoals

Before you can work on a goal, you’ll need to pick one! (You might already have one in mind and in that case, jump down to the next section.) Although each Neopian is different, there are some dreams that are pretty popular. They include: reaching a certain level for the battledome, reading books, being the ultimate Neomillionaire, winning a contest, or generally having the best pet.

If you’re having a hard time picking one, ask yourself what impresses you most about other Neopians? Are you blown away by a high avatar count? Do you drool over well-dressed pets? Or do your eyes light up with you see rows and rows of trophies? The options are endless and I’d recommend going with whatever you admire most from others. That gives you a solid idea of what might make you most happy.

All of the above are all great ideas, but the ones I named aren’t likely to come true unless you alter them a bit. Here are some edited versions that would be more successful.

Reach 300 avatars

Complete a stamp album page

Customize your pet with a scary/pretty/something else theme

Train your pet to level 100

Earn 20 game trophies

Win the beauty contest

Win the caption contest

Feed 75 kads

Reach 100 million Neopoints

Be published in the Neopian Times (one of my goals)

Now, on to how to achieve your goal. I’ll go with an example to illustrate.

In order to achieve your goal, it should fit follow these ideas. This gives you the best possible chance of making it come true.

Make it specific. Saying, “I want the prettiest pet” isn’t specific enough. You first need to pick which pet you think is the prettiest! You might go with oh I don’t know, a thornberry chia *cough cough* not that I have one of those or anything...

The goal is measurable. We know exactly what we’re looking to get done. We know we want that thornberry chia. It is easy to know when we’ve done that. You can just ask, “Do I have a thornberry chia?” and if the answer is no, you know you need to keep working.

Your goal needs to be obtainable. A big point here is to follow all of the rules. You can’t achieve something like“have 8 thornberry chias on one account” because you’ll never get that. Take the rules into consideration and be sure to stay within them or you’ll be let down. Another thing to keep an eye on is “is this retired?” This mostly applies to avatars that you can no longer earn. While you may really like one of them, you simply cannot get it. Allow yourself to be sad about this for about five minutes if you would like. Okay, time's up. Now we’re moving on to the next item.

Your goal should have a due date. Having this date in mind will push you to achieve it much more than if you just say “I want a thornberry chia eventually”. If you tell yourself, I will have that within two months, then you have a deadline. It is important to note that you might miss a deadline. Items in your shop may not sell in time to get those Neopoints you need. It might take you longer than expected to reach that game score. That is all okay! You can adjust your deadlines as needed once you get started. There’s nothing wrong with that.

The next stage is breaking your goal down into mini goals. These smaller milestones will help keep you motivated as you work towards your dream. You’ll be able to cross steps off of your list, giving you a sense of accomplishment. I find it useful to physically write down a list in a notebook so you can give yourself the satisfaction of literally checking each item off. Using our example, you might start with:

Create or adopt a chia

Play games and restock to earn half the cost of a magical thornberry chia pop

Continue on from step two until you reach the full cost of the magical thornberry chia pop

Find a magical thornberry chia pop to buy and purchase it

Transform your chia

Celebrate

Now did you notice something missing from our steps? That’s right-a deadline! You need a deadline for each mini goal to help keep you on track. Your timeline might be different from another Neopian’s depending on how quickly you make Neopoints. In the example above, I would say step one should be done within a day. Step two should be done within two weeks. Step three should be done in two more weeks. Step three can be done in one day after you complete step two. And steps five and six can be done in one day after you complete step 4.

Now what? Some people have a hard time after completing a goal. They’ve worked so hard for what seems like ages. They’ve been focused and on a mission. The first thing to do is celebrate! Enjoy the victory. Then you can move right along to your next goal. There is always something bigger and better to aim for. You just have to figure out what you want to achieve.

Take me as an example! My dream was to be published in the Neopian Times and here I am. My goal was specific, measurable, and could be obtained. I gave myself mini steps involving brainstorming ideas for two days, making an outline of my article in one day, writing the article in one day, proofreading it the next day, and finally submitting it the day I proofread. So I am living proof that this method works!

There you have it-a surefire way to reach those Neogoals. Good luck out there!