5+ REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE YOUR GOALS
This article is for those who commit their goals to memory. Hear me out… written goals give energy! The more you read them, the more energized you become towards them. Alternatively, if you don’t fancy the idea of writing, use pictures! Looking at them often will drive you into action.
A Harvard Business study found out that:
- 83% of respondents had no goals.
- 14% of respondents had plans but had not written them.
- 3% of respondents had written their goals.
This study also found out that the group that had unwritten goals was 10 times likely to succeed than those without any goals. Further, the group that had written down their goals was 3 times more likely to succeed than the group that had goals in mind.
Other than getting you energized to take action, other reasons why you should write your goals are:
- Writing goals boosts their recall – it is easier to forget unwritten goals. This is why you took loads of notes in school.
- Writing goals helps you clarify them – it helps you refine hence understand each goal clearly leaving no room for vagueness.
- Writing goals provides a filter for other opportunities – they help you evaluate new opportunities and keep you on course (away from distractions).
- Writing goals helps you track performance – It gives you the opportunity to cross your goals off the list as you achieve them.
- Writing goals almost always guarantees success–most highly successful people decide what they want to achieve and commit that to paper!
Caution: Having too many goals will come in the way of actualizing them. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Pick only a few, or one big one and once implemented, then ask, ‘what next?’
Divide your goals into short-term, medium-term and long-term categories. Short-term goals are those that you’d like to achieve within the next 3 years. Long-term goals would be your desires for the period beyond 10 years. Medium-term goals fall in between.
For goals under these categories, put down the actions you will take to actualize each. Limit these to 3 easy to do actions that you will commit to doing consistently. The more consistent you will be; the more momentum you will build leading to greater success. These interim victories will keep you motivated to keep going.
How should you write your goals?
I like the following formula, it has worked for me:
I will _____________________ [What you want to do or make progress on] from ___________ [value] to ___________ [value] by when ____________ [date].
‘I will’ is more energizing than ‘I’m going to try’ or ‘I hope to’.
Decide today to commit your goals to paper.
Nelaton, the great French surgeon, once said, ‘If I had 4 minutes in which to perform an operation on which a life depended, I would take 1 minute to consider how best to do it.’ It’s no wonder he came tops in his field.
Become that person who plans and commits theirSMARTER (Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Realistic. Time-bound. Evaluate. Reward) goals to writing. Post the goals up somewhere that you’ll see every day. Take a look at them often and be energized to achieve them.
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