Every book I’ve read on success talks about setting goals. Up until I bought Pick Four (Zig Ziglar + Seth Godin) I had avoided taking the advice of writing down goals. When ink hits paper and leaves goals in its wake I’m left with something bigger, more difficult and more real than the ideas in my head. Writing down your goals is not only dangerous to your way of life, it starts an internal work that I do not understand. My Pick Four set arrived over three months ago and I started to write goals down. There were manageable goals and ridiculous goals.
The Craziest Goal
The craziest goal I wrote down is pretty close to becoming reality. I know that writing down the goal did something immeasurable. The goal wasn’t a dream, it became tangible. Here’s the scary part. When I wrote down my goal I could for the first time ever, fail at it. By declaring my goal it became a destination I could have never reached and an obstacle I may never have conquered. My dream suddenly had a consequence. Scary stuff.
What I don’t understand
When you have a waitress attending to you their job is to keep your drink glass full. It’s no surprise when they show up seconds after you finish the last sip of your beverage because that’s the job they were assigned to do. We don’t expect our goals to serve us like waiters. Goals take work, luck, diligence, planning, execution, blood, tears etc. Perhaps we’re giving goals too much credit. Maybe when we write down our goals they become wait staff, ready to serve us when we need them. For sure we still have work to do so our goals become reality but based on the people I know who write down and achieve their goals, goals are more like fruit waiting to be picked. Goals aren’t a surprise when we make them real by writing them down. They can serve us instead of controlling us by being impossible pipe dreams.
Make your goals real
The monster in your closet is always more scary than the neighbor’s dog because you’ve never seen the monster in your closet. In fact that monster isn’t even real. What is real is the dog, no matter how mean it is. When you write down your goals the become real and when they are real that means they are tangible. When your goals are tangible they are attainable. Stop dreaming and write down your goals.
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I hope your life changes and your goals become reality.
How has setting goals helped you achieve more or why haven’t you set goals for yourself?
