‘A goal is a dream with a deadline’ Napoleon Hill

Setting goals is vital if you want to achieve wealth and success. Setting personal goals helps us establish a greater sense of control over our time and energy. In a research study conducted on Harvard students, only 3% wrote down their goals. After 10 years, those 3% were found to be ten times more successful compared to those who didn’t write down their goals.

Success has a personal definition for most of us and this definition is different for each person. According to famous author, Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change), goals help us set down our intention for the success that we wish to achieve in our lives.

Setting personal goals benefits us in several important ways:

Goals Serve as Reminders of what you want to accomplish

Without written goals, we tend to drift through each day and waste a lot of valuable time. Goals remind you of your dreams and ambitions and keep you on track with respect to time management.

Goal Setting helps better decision making

In the absence of well-defined goals, decision making turns into an ad-hoc and random process. Writing down goals helps you plan in advance and make thoughtful decisions.

Goals help provide direction and focus

When we live life from day to day, we tend to be at the mercy of chance. Circumstances control our time and energy. When we write down our goals, we are able to control our circumstances better, resolve problems and meet challenges head on.

Goals help you prioritise your tasks

Each day brings its own set of tasks, responsibilities and chores. Goals help prioritise our tasks so that we do more of what we want than what we are forced to do. This way, you can allocate your time to those tasks that help you progress in your path towards success.

You can expect to accomplish a lot more

One of the biggest benefits of goal setting is the fact that you can expect a higher level of accomplishment. Goals help break up big, complicated tasks into smaller, more manageable bits with the result that you achieve much more in a shorter time period.

Consistent setting of realistic goals boosts your self-confidence, creates a sense of purpose and helps bring about feelings of well-being and motivation.

Have you set goals for yourself and what were your reasons behind them? Share your story in the comments below!