Whether you are a student or not, I’m sure you have heard of people who constantly emphasize that it is important to set goals.
You’ve heard it from your teachers, colleagues, family, or friends.
One common advice that others have told you is “you should set goals.”
Chances are you probably don’t know why you should do it. Some of you do it because they told you to but you don’t really know why. Others do it because they realize the importance of setting goals.
Either way, I’m going to repeat what they’ve said to you, and that is, yes, it is important to set goals.
Now come on Eric, that’s not improving my situation any better. I still don’t know why! Why should I set goals? How will it benefit me? Tell me why it is important to set goals!
Well, as Bill Copeland says,
“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field…"
Here are 6 reasons why it is important for you to set goals.
1. Goals Tell You What You Want
It’s easy for your fellow peers or colleagues to persuade you into doing something you don’t want to do.
By setting your own goals, you have the ability to control your decisions better; goals are something that YOU want to happen, NOT what others tell you what you want to happen. When other people tell you what should happen, that's just what THEY want, not you (most of the times).
2. Setting Goals Help You Live Life To The Fullest
Some people waste their life doing random things. Others live it to the fullest, and treat every second as if it were gold.
Time is something valuable that gets spent every second, and you have no control over it. It’s just a matter of fact before you run out of time. The only control you do have over it is how well you spend that time.
Goals help make your life more meaningful.
Setting goals help you live life to the fullest by giving you a sense of direction or purpose to aim for. It helps you aim for accomplishment.
I’m sure you, like others, desire to be successful. Whatever success means to you, you’ve only got one chance at life, so might as well start now!
After all, once today is over, it’s over. There is no such thing as a reset button in life when it comes to time.
3. Goals Help You Focus On The Important Things In Life
Setting goals help you focus. It keeps your eye on the ball.
If your goal is important to you, you will have the drive to do whatever it takes to achieve it.
Don’t let any distractions or negativity stop you from getting what you want.
4. Goals Help Motivate You To Do Great Things
You don’t have to be Steve Jobs or Elon Musk to do great things. All you have to do is to be the best that you can become.
It’s just a matter of how much you want it, and how dedicated and persistent you are at making it happen.
5. Goals Help You Fight Procrastination
The moment you set a goal, is the moment you’ve declared war on procrastination.
Because the only way to achieve a goal is to take action, and not waste any free time available to you. After all, you don’t want to be one of those people who don’t have the guts to face the facts that when they fail to do something, they make the same old excuse of “I’m busy” or “I didn’t have the time to do that.”
Related – How to start focusing and be productive with the Pomodoro Technique
6. Goals Help You Stay On The Right Track In Life
Having a goal set is like declaring a destination or a major milestone point in your life.
Goals are like vacation trips, where the goal is the destination.
By setting a goal, you declared where you want to end up at. It helps you have a better idea and clearer vision of how you want your life to end up as.
All it takes is for you to start the journey.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, goals help you get a better idea of what direction to take in life. It helps you stay focused on the important things, and it helps give your life new meaning to it.
In the next post, you will learn how to set better goals so you can increase your chances of success. Also, it will help you ensure that your goal is not impossible to achieve by you at all.
Question
Now that you’ve reached the end of the post and know why it is important to set goals, what goal are you going to set today?
If you don’t know yet, what are some goals that you have in mind that you wish to accomplish?
If you don’t mind, feel free to share it in the comments below. By the way, it isn’t fair for you to share your goal if I don’t share mine, right? My main life goal is to start 7 successful companies before I turn 50 years old.