Personal Development and Growth

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Today’s series is about setting goals. If you ask everyone you know, almost all of them will tell you they believe in setting goals, and that it is important. Many of them will even say that they have some clearly defined goals.  However, when really pressed, almost all of them will shyly admit they don’t have those goals written down in some form. I have emphasized many time why setting goals and writing them down is important. So, do you have your goals written down? DO YOU?

I would bet, most likely, you don’t…if you are like most people.

Why not?

I have found 5 basic reasons why people don’t want to write down their goals. If you have some that are not listed, please comment and let me know.

#1. I Don’t Know Where To Start

This one is the most common. It can sometimes be difficult to figure out where to start, and how to go about it. The answer is simple – find an area in your life, and start with something that you really want. For example, if you want to lose weight, start with that. Find some area in your life you want to improve, and write it down.

#2.  Fear

In my post titled What Is Stopping You From Getting What You Want Out Of Life I discussed fear in great detail. This post will help if fear is your challenge, but rest assured, fear is no reason to stop you from setting goals.

#3. I Might Set A Goal That Is Too High

You must be realistic in setting goals, that is for sure. But if you set a really high goal, and you make progress towards it, you are still moving in the right direction. It is always better to set some intermediary goals along the way as well, so you can celebrate some smaller victories as you progress towards the big one. Who says you can’t do it? Remember, when it comes to achieving things, whether you say you can, or cannot, you are correct.

#4. I Might Actually Succeed

This one actually has more to do with self-confidence, and feeling worthy, than anything else. My post on self confidence can be of some help there. This is often due to people feeling they are unworthy of success. I can guarantee you that you won’t succeed if you don’t try. Give it a shot – you only live once, right? Success will come, if you will let it. What is stopping you? Don’t you deserve to succeed? Of course you do!

#5. I Might Fail

Failure is something we all must cope with. There is nothing wrong with failure, unless you don’t learn from it. If you are trying to meet a weight loss goal of 3 lbs a week, and you only lose 2 pounds, did you really fail? NO! You still lost 2 pounds! Granted, you can tweak your diet and exercise plan for next week, and still aspire to lose 3 pounds in the future, but you can still celebrate an overall success. The point is, you learned something and still saw some benefit from aspiring to the g0al. Don’t let the possibility of failure stop you from trying.

I will continue this series, revealing more secrets to success as we move forward. But remember, set some goals for yourself, and write them down. Do it now. Open a text editor on your computer, or go get a piece of paper and a pen. If any of the above 5 reasons applied to you, make a vow to yourself that you will overcome them and set those goals right now. You may need to change them in the future – that is fine. Just make sure you set those goals, write them down, and save them somewhere. You cannot win a race if you never start.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines. The race is on.