Goals

Almost every self improvement book, book on management or leadership, or other type of inspirational book talks about the importance of setting goals. If you don't set goals, you have nothing to shoot for and you won't know how you are doing in your progress to become the person you want to be and have the things you want to have. You won't know how much you have achieved already because you don't have the knowledge of having set and achieved a specific goal. And you won't know what you should be working toward because you don't have a clear picture of what you want to accomplish or obtain. So obviously setting goals is important and everyone knows it, but how many people actually do it? Do you? If not, start now! Grab a few pieces of paper and write down headings of 1 month, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, and 25 years. Then start with the 1 month section and set some goals for yourself for the next month. When you have a few of those, move on to the 1 year, 3 year, and so on. After you get all the way through the 25 year goals, read the 25 year goals again and figure out how you could break them down into smaller goals and put those down in the 10 year, 5 year, etc. sections. Then you will have a great set of goals to start focusing on. They don't have to be perfect, just do it - you can always refine them later.

Now if you do already have some goals written down, do you actually pay attention to them? Can you name them off the top of your head? How many of them are you close to achieving? What are you planning on doing next week to bring you closer to achieving some of them? You have to keep your goals (especially your short-term goals) in front of you constantly. If you do this, you will read them so many times, and think about them so much that you will think of new and better ways to reach them, and they will become more and more real to you which will help you achieve them faster!

There is a danger to living your life in a way that focuses too much on the achievement of goals though. If you only do things in order to achieve goals, you will miss out on all of the fun and opportunities for growth along the way. You will be a human doing instead of a human being.

It's important to set clear, measurable goals with deadlines for their realization so you know what to focus on, but you must always keep everything in perspective as well. Don't get caught up in doing only things that will help you achieve your goals, but definitely pay attention to your goals and plan on doing things each day or week that will bring you closer to achieving them. It's like everything else in life, you have to have a balance between living your life and enjoying it and setting, working towards, and achieving goals in order to become more successful. Enjoy the ride as you work toward your goals and it won't seem like work. If you always focus on what the next thing you need to do in order to achieve a particular goals is, then you will get stressed out, you won't enjoy the journey, and then when you reach that goal you won't be happy because after the initial sense of achievement wears off "you'll think is this all there is?"

So once again, set goals and make them goals that will help you become who you want to be, but don't live for your goals. Keep them in front of you so you read them at least once a day and work toward attaining them, but not to the point that you exclude other things (like spending time with your family, friends, or yourself). Goals are important, they can help you achieve amazing things and become a great person who is successful and happy as long as you use them as tools to help you focus on what's next instead of focusing on them as if they are all that matter. Don't make the goals your whole focus, just include them in your plans and use them to help you focus more specifically on what you need to do to grow and become more and more successful. If you make sure to enjoy the time and experiences you go through while working toward attaining your goals, then you will be a happy, successful person while you work towards achieving those goals, and even more so afterwords. Don't be a human doing,...be a human being. Be a success while working to become even more successful.