Setting Goals: The Importance of a Goal

Today we're starting the first part of our series that explores the nature of success. We're looking at the Success Formula: a basic equation that states that success is most often achieved by setting goals, creating a plan and committing your energy to the fulfillment of that plan.

For the next few days, we'll be talking about goals. Today we're focusing on the "why" and next, we'll focus on the "how".

Setting appropriate goals is a critical part of achieving success because it prompts us to focus on the exact things we are aiming for. Goals are the specific objectives we want to accomplish.

The importance of setting clear goals is difficult to overstate. Goals are commonly considered one of the key factors for achieving success. Consequently, the lack of clearly defined goals is widely considered to be one of the greatest stumbling blocks in achieving success. In fact, almost every book on personal or professional development includes at least one section on the importance of goals. The challenge is that we've heard it so many times we tend to ignore it now. It's such a familiar concept, we overlook it. We know what we should do, yet many of us fail to do it.

"Making a decision is only the beginning of things...When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision."
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard a lot about The Law of Attraction and books like The Secret (read my book review here). Much like the timeless poem by William Hutchinson Murray (& Goethe) entitled "Until One is Committed," and the powerful book "The Alchemist" from which the above quote comes, the idea behind The Secret is pretty straight-forward: once you set your mind on what you want, powerful forces align to help you succeed. Once your goal is set, the universe conspires to help you achieve it.

Whether or not you believe in the mystical forces of the world, there is some science behind the idea.

What happens when you set a goal?

When you set a goal, you may consciously begin planning and motivating yourself to achieve it. However, the subconscious mind also kicks in developing an action plan as well. By setting a goal and visualizing the results, the subconscious mind begins to work out the details of how it will actually be accomplished. Ideas and solutions begin popping up as if from nowhere. When you make a decision and begin focusing on achieving a specific goal, the powerful subconscious mind goes to work toying with ideas and developing strategies. It also stays on the lookout for signs along the way - small reassurances that the right road has been taken. Some people dismiss these as mere "coincidences" but perhaps they are much more...signals of the universe helping set your direction and guide you to achieving your goal.

Why are goals necessary?

With goals you create your own future. You can literally shape your destiny. While goals allow us to visualize where we want to go, there may be many different paths - hundreds even - that could get us there. We all have goals whether we know it or not. No matter what your goals are, they are affecting your life every day, in ways you probably don't fully comprehend.

Goals should be inspiring. Strong and compelling goals drive us to grow and develop ourselves, pushing past our comfort zones and breaking any preconceived notion of "limitation". Compelling goals have the power to change lives. Done properly and specifically goals can transform our lives.

Goals help us measure our progress, to see if what we are doing is moving us closer to or further from our ultimate ambition. 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 know we must change direction in order to get back on track.

Without goals we flounder. We don't know which direction we're going. We constantly shift our aim from one target to another and we don't even realize we're doing it. We get consumed in things that are meaningless, that don't move us forward and only waste time. We fight the wrong battles. We waste energy. We lose focus. We stop achieving and simply exist, allowing ourselves to be pushed and pulled in any direction at any given time. We allow others to create goals for us so we find ourselves working to achieve other people's dreams. We lose ambition. We lose drive. We lose ourselves.

Up next in our Success Formula Series - How to Set Goals. I'll be offering some straight-forward advice for how to establish goals that make sense for you. You won't want to miss it!

And please add your comments...I'm curious to know what you think about The Secret, The Law of Attraction and the importance of goals.