Setting goals (I)

WE are at the end of the year and by now we must have our goals for next year ready. Goals are very critical to our success. Goals are landmarks on our way to success. Goals helps us to track our success as we journey through life. When we sit down to draw up our goals it helps us to organize our thinking so we can constructively build our lives. It will help us know what we need to do , how to get them done and when to to do them. Goal setting helps us foresee our future and make plans how to arrive at that future. When we set goals we are able to intelligently know what resources we have at our disposal to execute our purpose and where we find we are short of resources we plan how to get what is needed to get the job done. The importance of goal setting cannot be over emphasized.

“Top performers, world-class athletes, and successful people all set goals. Michael Phelps (competitive swimmer and most decorated Olympian of all time), Kobe Bryant (NBA star), Mark Zuckerberg (co-founder of Facebook), Richard Branson (business magnate), and Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX and Telsa Motors) all set goals. That’s because when you set goals, you have a vision to work toward. You ensure that you are pushing yourself to get the best results, rather than resting on your laurels and waiting for things to happen.

Know that what gets measured, gets improved. If you don’t set specific targets and milestones, how are things going to improve? There is literally nothing to work toward, and even though you may be working hard, your hard work may not translate into anything. As the popular saying goes, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” When you set goals, you are aiming for the moon. Your goals propel you to take more action that you would have otherwise.” Celestine Chua

Many people do not set goals for many reasons. Some have set goals and because the goals were not achieved they become disillusioned about goal setting so they have given up completely on setting goals.

“Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.” Mario Andretti

Others just can’t be bothered to go through the stress of sitting down to set goals. Some think it is a waste of time – that what will happen will happen so why bug yourself down trying to determine what you don’t have control over. Some other people just simply don’t know how to set goals and some don’t understand the value of goal setting.

We must set goals. In life we always plan for what is important to us. We put in a lot of man hours in planning for weddings, funerals and parties because we want it to succeed. We don’t not want to have an event that is not well planned or that flops because of the value we place on the event and because we want to make judicious use of the resources we have invested into the event. If events – weddings, funerals, parties etc are so important that they demand serious planning why then do we refuse to  plan for our life. Why don’t we put the same effort we put into planning events into planning for the year ahead of us. The truth of the matters is that we do not put the same value we put on events on our lives.

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