Set Goals or be Doomed

Question: Why so dramatic?

Answer: Because your life depends on it.

"Without goals, you are like an arrow that has been shot without a target. You will not hit the mark, and you will end up lost."

- Brian Tracey

I could probably write a whole book on this subject but luckily, I don't have to. See my book list and look for Brian Tracey. The reason he is listed is because of his timeless and invaluable goal-setting techniques.

After reading 'Goals!' and 'Eat That Frog!', I resolved to set and write down my goals, and boy, it works. There is one reason for this, and it's because it brings your attention to what you truly desire. Earl Nightingale said, "you become what you think about," listen to this for more context (an absolute nugget of gold). This is perhaps the most important concept to understand when it comes to self-improvement and achievement.

When 2024 began, I set a goal to run a marathon by the end of the year. I constantly reminded myself about this goal throughout the year; this always urged me to run that extra km or go for that extra run. Anytime someone invited me to a run, I thought, 'yeah, I better, if I'm going to get that marathon by the end of the year.' I found myself running at night regularly, running on weekends, and running up that awful mountain that is inconveniently close and accessible from where I live.

The funny thing is, when I did finally go the distance, I genuinely didn't plan to do it. I had this niggling word in the back of my head, which echoed from the beginning of the year: "marathon." On this planned 21 km run, I thought, 'what the hell?'. I was ready. I ended up scraping in to my sub-goal of doing it under 4 hours.

This goal gave me purpose for every run I suffered through this year; it gave me a target to shoot towards. I am not saying you need to run a marathon or else you are doomed. I am saying that without a clear understanding of what you want, there is almost no meaning in what you do. As you can imagine, this leads to bad places and bad outcomes.

Although only briefly outlined here, the importance of goals is paramount in your journey, meaning, and success. Read the aforementioned books and strictly follow their instructions, and do the exercises. What do you have to lose? More importantly, what do you have to gain?

As always, I am interested in your thoughts and criticisms, feel free to email me.
Thanks for reading.