“Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.”
Brian Tracy, Eat that Frog

Goal setting is crucial for getting what you want, whether it’s in business or your personal life. There is simply no other way to produce real lasting change. Look closely at anything you’ve achieved in your life and you’ll discover that there was probably a thoroughly planned and well executed goal behind it.

Below are the five reasons why goal setting is so important:

1. Clarity

Goal setting gives you clarity about what you want. Most of us have vague desires floating around in our heads. If you don’t set down in concrete terms exactly what you want, you’ll end up spinning your wheels and getting nothing done. You actually create your goals twice – once in your mind and once later in reality. The clearer the vision in your mind, the easier it is to formulate concrete steps that will get you there.

For an exercise that can help with getting clear on your vision, read this post: What’s Your Vision?

2. Responsibility

When you set down a goal and start working toward it, you give yourself a sense of responsibility to see it through. You can easily understand that whether or not you attain your goal has little to do with outside influence and everything to do with your attitude and actions. You can no longer blame others for your failure to get what you want. You become solely accountable.

For some more insights into taking responsibility for what might be keeping you from getting what you want, check out this post: What Keeps You From Getting What You Want?

3. Action

If you set your goal well, it will give you a concrete action plan. Wishing for things to happen doesn’t do this. You know that you have to get started today and take small steps toward your eventual target. An important part of the goal setting process is breaking up your goals into smaller goals and a daily action plan that will get you there.

For more about action, read this:  Are Your Actions Producing the Results You Want?

4. Motivation

Without a goal, how do you stay on target, especially when things go wrong? Making daily progress toward your goal through your action plan gives you the motivation to keep going. You can see how far you’ve come and you know that it would be a shame to turn back. For many people, simply putting your goal into words and getting started is a great motivator.

For more about staying on target, these posts may be helpful:

• When Life Gives You “Pushback”
• When the Odds Are Stacked Against You

5. Focus

Without laser-sharp focus, you’re unlikely to ever achieve great things in your life. Having a goal and plan for achieving it keeps you completely focused on what you need to do in order to get there. It’s much harder to be distracted or led astray by shiny objects. If you set goals, you know exactly where to put your energy each day to get it done.

One Goal at a Time

Goal setting is important but there’s a right and wrong way to do it. Like any skill, it’s something you need to learn and practice. Most people don’t learn from their goal-setting mistakes and they continually struggle to attain the goals they desire. You’re motivated and you’ve got lots of changes you want to make in your life or business, but slow down. Take it one goal at a time. Choose which is most important to you and focus on it. Let the others wait. Once you’re in the groove with the first goal, you can think about adding something else. Most of us are too busy to tackle more than one and there’s the risk of burning out.

Your partner in setting and achieving your goals,