Why is goal setting important?



Do you ever ask yourself the question - why is goal setting important?

Or are you wary of the whole goal setting process and whether it actually works?

The major reason goal setting is so important is that it helps keep you focused. VITAL if you want to achieve your dreams and desires.

Maybe you are too busy to set goals, if that’s your excuse. Or maybe you just don’t understand how to set goals. That’s OK, I understand how much easier it is NOT to set goals than it is to take some time and actually sit down and write your goals out on paper, and then you need to find the time to work out how to reach those goals. Time, time, time. We waste so much time every day. Do you know the saying “TIDE AND TIME WAIT FOR NO ONE”. When I heard that saying for the first time, I was really shocked to think exactly what it meant.

Every successful person you can think of understands the benefits of goal setting and they have realised that the only way to achieve what they want is to find time, and set goals. You need to find time if you want success. Once you start the process, you will find you really get into it. Try it!

Why is goal setting important?

Here is a quick goal setting example that will illustrate to you how setting goals works.

Imagine you are called up by your friend who asks you on a 2 week sailing trip to Australia (from the UK) in 2 weeks time. Wow! Quite a holiday, and what an opportunity. But you weren’t planning it so suddenly you have work out what needs to be done in 2 weeks in order to leave without things up in the air.

So, what do you do? Well, you sit down and write a list of everything you need to do, everything you want to finish and so on, and then you spend the next 2 weeks carrying out those tasks.

What you have shown to yourself is that you had
a) A burning desire to make that trip, whatever you had to do before hand
b) A list of things you needed to do for the next 2 weeks
c) A plan

Now, forgive me if I’m mistaken, but this is exactly what you need to do to set goals. It also shows you the benefits of goal setting. Why don’t you automatically do that for your everyday life, for your work, for your family, for your finances? I'll tell you why - because you don’t have a enough of a burning desire. Once you have that burning desire, goal setting is vital.

By the way, that story is true!

Why is goal setting important?
To keep you focused and on target for what you want to achieve.

Here is another example of the question - why is goal setting important.  If you’re a sportsman who plays a sport where goal posts are needed, then imagine going out to play a match and someone had actually taken those goal posts away. What on earth do you aim are? Where is the target? Well, IT’S GONE, AND THERE ISN’T ONE!

Maybe you don’t want to be the CEO of a big corporation, and that’s OK, but you should set goals, whatever walk of life you’re in.

The benefits of goal setting can’t be stressed enough, whether you’re a clerk, housewife, student, or anything else for that matter.

By now you’ve established that you set goals to keep you focused. Its widely accepted that effective goal setting increases productivity.  The importance of goal setting can't be under-estimated.

You will find that once you set a meaningful goal and sorted your time management out, and working towards something that you really want, your mind begins to motivate you and push you into taking action towards your goal. Sitting on your bottom doesn’t become an option, you are now fired up to do whatever is necessary to achieve what you want.

So now you know the answer to your question - why is goal setting important”.

Go and start your goal setting process!


Return to Home page

Return to Goal Setting Theory