Here’s Why You Should Set New Goals (Part 1 of 3)

Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year! Goal setting is front and center in most of our minds.

Maybe you have already set goals for this new year, or are still planning to, or possibly you’re considering whether it’s even worth it after setting goals in the past and failing to accomplish them.

In this first of a three-part email series, I will share WHY it is imperative that you set goals for your life.

In the second email I will share with you HOW to set goals in a way that will maximize their effectiveness, and in the final email I’ll share HOW to accomplish them.

So, let’s begin. Here’s why you should consider setting or resetting new goals.

Imagine this…You’re a professional archer and the only way you can provide for your family is by excelling in your craft. Could you imagine thinking you’d succeed in hitting the target if you were blindfolded and spun around several times, not having any clue which direction the actual target was in?

As crazy as that sounds, how much crazier would it be to try to hit a target that does not even exist?

That is what it’s like to live without any goals.

It’s been said that if we don’t know where we are going, any road will get us there.

Think about that for a moment. Where do you want to be in your health and fitness, in your relationships, with your occupation, in your finances, and so on.

The basic problem most people have is not a lack of time to accomplish their heart’s desire, but rather a lack of direction.

We all have the same 24 hours every single day. This is why having goals, and knowing the path to best accomplish them, leads to a much more purposeful, intentional, enjoyable, and therefore a more successful life.

The truth is we must have goals. Having specific short range as well as long range goals creates positive activity. Positive activity creates the energy, excitement and motivation needed to propel us towards reaching those goals.

For many, this can also be very helpful in chasing the blues away. A lack of purpose, a lack of goals, a lack of vision and clarity for our lives is certainly not a great recipe for a healthy body and mind.

The bible speaks to the importance of vision, goals and hope for the future in Proverbs 29:18 where it states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”

We were created to accomplish goals. We were hardwired to have something to work towards. We not only need our dreams for our brains to repair while we sleep, but we also must have our “dreams” when we are wide awake.

Logic will not change our emotions, but our actions have the ability to positively affect our feelings and emotions, which I shared in more depth on my recent podcast episode #015 of the Life’s Hard, Succeed Anyway titled, "Maximize Your Success by Mastering Your Mind."

Don’t let fear of failure stop you from setting goals. To do that is a failure in itself.

As the hockey great Wayne Gretszky stated, “We miss 100% of the shorts we never take.” We must take the shots in life!

And if you’ve set a past goal that you missed hitting, it’s not a failure. Thankfully we all continued to try again after failing to successfully walk, talk, or chew solid food as children.

To not even try is a failure. If we make an attempt, we are at least better off. In doing so, we will no doubt have learned, grown and improved, and be better off for it.

How can we hit a target we don’t have? How can we make a shot we never take?

We will always be better off by setting goals, rather than not setting goals, but we must set them in the most effective manner.

In next week’s message, I will share “How to Set the Most Effective Goals” to help you maximize your odds of hitting the goals that you set.

Until next time,