The Importance Of Goal Setting
Imagine...
Looking back on your life on your death bed and feeling totally satisfied at achieving everything you ever wanted in life... achieving and living all your dreams.
In life, we all have something dreams of a better life... of a life where things are exactly how we want them.
Whether it's our finances, our family, our health, our contribution to society, or all of the above... we all have a dream of how our life would look life if it were perfect in every respect.
The difference between the people who do eventually get to live the life of their dreams and those who will only ever yearn for their dream is goal setting.
We all have goals, whether we consciously set them or not. Whether it is to pay the bills at the end of the week; or to buy a new house; or to increase profits in your business; or to lose those extra few pounds; or to create the life of your dreams... everybody has goals.
The difference between living a fulfilling life and just living an average life is the quality of the goals you set for yourself. Yet why do only 5% of adults ever write goals?
Did you know that studies have found that 95% of adults will never write a goal in their life? Which means only 5% of adults will ever write goals in their life!
Another interesting statistic is the distribution of wealth throughout the population. Recent studies have found that 90% of all the wealth in our society is controlled by just 10% of the population. An example of this is found in the share market... where 90% of all the traded shares are controlled by just 10% of the investors.
Is there a correlation between the fact that only 5% of adults ever write goals, and 10% of adults control 90% of the wealth?
In my opinion... there is!
Imagine...
You've boarded a plane in Los Angeles heading west over the Pacific Ocean... but you don't have a destination.
All you know is that you'll be taking off soon. And you hope that you land somewhere good.
Where will you land?
What will you do when you get there?
Will you land at all?
Did you know that an airplane traveling between two cities is on course only 5% of the time? The other 95% of the time is spent getting back on course as a result of the wind and air pressure.
Setting goals is like having a destination before take-off. If you know where you're going, you can focus on the end result and get back on track if any obstacles get in the way.
Without a set destination you'll be knocked off course by the first obstacle in your path, and never end up reaching your destination.
Without your own written goals, you're like a plane that leaves the airport with no real destination in mind. Sure you might be able to take off and cruise for a while, but eventually you WILL land somewhere... and that somewhere may not be where you want to be.
We all have at least 5 major areas in our life that if we set clear, written goals for would dramatically improve the quality of our life in each area. Those areas are: finances; career; health; family; friendships.
By setting goals in each area of our life we give ourselves a target, something to aim for, something that if we achieved would have a dramatic positive impact in our life.
Goals give us something to measure our progress against, to see if what we are doing is moving us closer or further from our ultimate target. If our actions are moving us closer to our target then we keep doing what we're doing. If our actions are moving us further from our target, then we must change what we are doing so that we can move closer to our target.
But this also opens up the possibility of failure... and that is one of the biggest obstacles that you must overcome to have a truly fulfilling life. Most people never set goals because of the fear of failure, and the fear of the unknown.
The fear of failure is the biggest obstacle that we all must overcome in every part of our life...
And the fear of the unknown is the fear of moving outside of our comfort zone and into a world that we do not know.
The exciting part is...
Unless you are currently living the life of your dreams, your dreams lay outside the realm of your current comfort zone, in the unknown...
So take the first step today in creating the life of your dreams and start writing goals today.
Alex Cleanthous
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