“Begin with the end in mind.”
Stephen Covey
Those words written by Stephen from his popular book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, have impacted more lives than you can imagine. He was referring to the habit of setting goals, and I want to encourage you to do just that beginning immediately. When you were a child you were probably asked what you would like to be when you grow up. If that was the last time you really thought about what you want in life, that changes today.
Why Goals?
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24-hour days.”
Zig Ziglar
I can’t possibly count the number of times I have personally heard someone say that they don’t have time for something. Before being enlightened to the importance of setting goals, this was definitely one of my favorite excuses as well. While I can appreciate anyone who has the willingness to say no when necessary, all too often we are making this excuse for the wrong reasons. We should be taking time to better ourselves every day by reading books, educating ourselves, praying, exercising, and spending quality time with those we love. We neglect one or all of these in exchange for leisure time or less important activities and when asked why, we simply respond that we don’t have time.
“Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent return on energy.”
Brian Tracy
The next time you feel that you don’t have time to plan, consider Brian Tracy’s quote. If you have wasted your energy by failing to set goals and plan for your life, now is your opportunity to change that. If you are one of the many who only make plans in the new year, I encourage you to plan beyond January and watch your life change.
Stay Focused on your Goals
The key to continuing to take steps toward your goals is to look at them often. I personally set daily goals in addition to weekly, monthly, and yearly. It helps me to stay focused by taking time to look at my goals at least once per day. You should set goals for success in your own personal development and professional life, but you should also set goals for your relationships, health, and even spiritual life if applicable to you. Taking time to really think about and plan for what you want is not only essential but can be very fulfilling. The feeling of finally know which direction you’re headed in life is absolutely worth the effort to plan, trust me.
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.”
Earl Nightgale
Earl Nightingale, one of the ‘fathers’ of personal development, just defined success by relating it to your ability to set goals. Notice that he said it is a progressive realization. In other words, some of your goals won’t happen overnight but you can take incremental steps toward them each day. This is how you want to define success in each decision you make, “Did you move toward or away from your goals?” Let’s make sure the majority of decisions you make are taking you toward your goals.
Next Steps
If you want success in life, you must learn to set goals.
Before you do anything else or embark on any other initiatives, sit down and decide exactly what you want to accomplish in your life. If you don’t know where to start, let me help you. Some additional coaching is never a bad idea to set your life in order for years to come. Visit this link for more details.
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