During the FIFA World Cup, “Goooaaalll” is a very common cheer you will hear when a team puts one in the net. It’s a celebration, a victory of some kind. They, at least in that moment, met a goal. There goal, in that minute, was to score a goal. The overall goal is to win the game. They came into the game with a plan and executed. Well, that is the way life is too. You have to have goals in mind and a plan to reach those goals if you want to win at this game of Life.
Why Do I Need Goals?
Goals gives us a purpose…something to strive towards. The Japanese call it ikigai and it is the concept that we have to have a reason or purpose to get up in the morning. Without a purpose, why even get up? You may be thinking, “I do have a goal. That goal is to work eight hours and make money so I can pay my mortgage payment.” If your only goal is to work eight hours, then we definitely need to talk. We have to think bigger than we are if we’re ever going to have more than we have.
A Rutterless Ship
Without any goals, you are like a rutterless ship. You will be at the mercy of the wind and the tide, taking you where you randomly go, rather than having a destination in mind. Don’t get me wrong, a random location can sometimes be good, but wouldn’t you rather know for certain where you are going to land? You can be more certain by setting goals for yourself and not leaving things to chance.
A Goal Only In Your Head Is A Dream
Where do your goals exist today? If your answer is, “Only in my head,” then I believe you have a dream and not a goal. A goal is something you strive for and take action to get there. And that first action is to write down your goals. You need to put them on paper and make them real. If they’re only in your head, then I am afraid you are on that rutterless ship headed for, what author Brian Tracy called, Someday Isle.
Someday Isle
Someday Isle is that fabulous place where you can sit back and simply say, “Someday I’ll…”. That’s right. It is a place where you just talk and take no action. If you sit on that island and say, “Someday I’ll…” you won’t get anywhere. You have to take action. Write those goals down and get to work.
Write Them Down
That’s right. You have an assignment. Get off of Someday Isle and write your goals down. Get them out of your head and onto a piece of paper. You can put them on your computer if you like, but on paper is even better. The physical motion of writing down your goals helps ingrain them in your head. Mr. Tracy reports that less than 3% of the population have written goals. Like Earl Nightingale said, “Look at what the majority of people are doing, and do the exact opposite, and you’ll probably never go wrong for as long as you live.” Take 15-30 minutes now and write down your goals. But what kind of goals?
Kinds of Goals
Let’s keep this simple and focus on a few different areas of your life. At a minimum, you want to have at least one goal in each of the following areas: Money, Relationships, Wisdom, Happiness, and Fitness. “Wait, those are the same areas we read about at 5and2guy.com.” That’s right. These are a great place to start and can have a huge impact on your life. We all want to improve in all of these areas, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this post today.
But How???
For each kind of goal, ask yourself one thing you would like to accomplish. For Money, you may say that you want to establish an Emergency Fund with $1000 in it by the end of the month. Great…your goal is:
“I have an Emergency Fund with $1000 in it by May 31st 2023.”
That’s right. You have to be specific, and it is suggested that you write it down as if you have already done it. This will get into your subconscious and start to work on making it happen. You need to come up with a plan to make it happen as well. Then execute the plan. Take this approach for all kinds of goals, creating at least one in each area we discussed above.
Read Your Goals Daily!!!
Very, very, very important!!! Read your goals daily!!! Read them at least once a day, preferably twice. I read my goals every morning during my POP Hour. This keeps my goals fresh in my mind and helps me to make sure that I plan things for the day that will get me closer to reaching them. By reading your goals daily, you are reminding yourself of what you need to do plus you are reminded when you promised to have it done by. For our Money goal above, we want the Emergency Fund with $1000 in it by May 31st 2019. So, we need to make sure we are executing our plans to get there on time.
It has been recommended by Brian Tracy that you physically re-write your goals daily. This further ingrains in your head what you want. Honestly, I don’t do this because I don’t want to take the time to re-write the same thing everyday, but there is value to it. He suggests you write them from memory, this way you know exactly what you want. Personally, I believe I know what I want and reading them daily seems to work for me!!!
Final Thoughts
Only 3% of the population write their goals down, so why am I asking you to do it? I am asking you to do it because it’s changed my life and it can change yours too. I’m setting and hitting my goals every year. Everything I want is starting to happen because I thought of my goals, wrote them down, and put together a plan to make them happen. I read them every morning to remind me what is important to me and then I make sure my day is full of actions that will help me reach my goals.
If it works for me, it can work for you too. Will you join me and the other 2.99999% of people and write down your goals? Will you read them daily? Will you do it because you believe it will work? Trust me, it will work!!! Don’t be a rutterless ship. Set a destination, a goal, for the different areas of your life, and shove off. You can get to your destination faster if you know where you’re going. And your goals will get you there!!!
[…] If Zig’s words have found your ear, check out my post on setting goals and how goals can change your life: “Goooaaalll!!!” No, I’m Not Talking About Soccer!!!. […]