The Importance of Setting Goals

In the movie Alice In WonderlandAlice meets Cheshire Cat and asks 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I don't much care where'said Alice. 'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. 'So long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation. `Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat,`if you only walk long enough.'

Most people approach their lives like Alice, they do not care which they go as long as they are going. They do not have specific goals and time plans on how to realise their goals. Then they wonder why they do not reach their goals, its not rocket science as to why they fail to achieve their goals; they never had any. Most people confuse working everyday with achieving goals, they think as long as I am working I surely must be getting ahead. Their lives is all adhoc, they just make things up as they go, hoping it would lead them to the lives they dream about.

When you decide to embark on a journey by car, you will have a destination to which you will be driving. You will probably consult a map to determine the best route or the shortest or the most efficient one and to calculate how long it will take you to drive there. You will also calculate the fuel you will need for the journey, if not you will find out before hand if there fuel stations along your route if you run out of fuel. There is no way you would just get in the car and start driving, deciding mid-journey where you want to go. Yet that is what most people do in their lives, they do not have any destinations, they do not where they are going it is no wonder they never arrive.You need to set goals, short term as well as long term, you need to write them down, consult them regularly just like a map or sat-nav to see if you are on course. Sometimes it seems daunting to long-term goals, like a 5-10 year plan, but the best way to tackle the inertia is to concentrate on achieving your daily goals, if you are on course everyday then you will be on course at the end of the week, month, year. Visualising yourself as you reach your goals will also provide you with the needed motivation to tackle whatever tasks that lay ahead. Be realistic about the goals you choose, its no use setting goals that are unachievable for you to give up on the whole exercise.

Many people are vague about what they want in life, they profess to want to be successful. They think having money equates to success but wealthy people have money as a result of their success. If you want the results of success then you should also willing to take the necessary steps that will bring you those results of success. If you do not set goals you will be reacting to situations and you will leave fate and chance to dictate what happens to you. Start today do not procrastinate!