The Need to Set Goals

I am asked sometimes "Why do I need to set goals?" or "Why is goal setting so important?"  The best answer to these questions is - a person who does not have a goal will be used by someone who does.  By writing them down we can then focus on our goals and purpose.  We are opening doors of opportunity for ourselves to reach our dreams.  It moves us into action.  Many times we become complacent where we are even though we know the place we are right now isn't the best place to be.  By listing our goals we are creating our future in advance.  It truly shapes our lives.

Areas We Need to Set Goals

Setting goals stretches us and helps us to mature in every area of our lives.  As it stretches us, we are going to achieve more that way than any other way.  The key to succeeding in just about everything in life is to be able to look at the future, set those goals, and then move in that direction.

We need to stay balanced in all areas of our life and need to set goals in each of these areas.

Personal Goals

There is a theory of human behavior that says people subconsciously retard their own intellectual growth. They come to rely on clichés and habits. Once they reach the age of their own personal comfort with the world, they stop learning and their mind runs on idle for the rest of their days. They may progress organizationally, they may be ambitious and eager, and they may even work night and day. But they learn no more.  Ask yourself some questions: When was the last time you did something for the first time?  What have you learned and applied this month? What do you do daily to facilitate your growth?

Career Goals

Ask yourself: What do I want to spend the next ten years doing?  Do I need more education to reach my goal?  Do I need more skills, more information?  What is my first step, second step?  How much money do I need?

Financial Goals

Ask yourself: How much money do I need to live?  Sometimes the career and financial goals go together, the one supplying the other.  You may need to set a goal for being out of debt.

When you make up your financial plan, list it in this order: needs, wants, desires.

Needs -  food, clothing, housing, car, insurance - necessities only.

Wants- choice of quality of goods or services, apartment, cars, vacation, etc.

Desires - met out of surplus funds.

How do we have financial freedom?  How do we get out of debt?  Learn to live in this provision so you can be living in peace and contentment.  Learn first to live within your income.

What is financial freedom?  Financial freedom is the absence of bondage, not an abundance of money.  It is peace of mind and contentment.

Advice for setting some goals towards attaining financial freedom:

• Establish a plateau of living and be satisfied.  Cease constantly escalating your lifestyle and standard of living.  Decide what kind of house you want to live in, how much income you need, where you desire to shop and attain that standard and stop there.  If you don't, you'll always be striving, always in debt.
• Establish a savings program.  Always have a 3-month expense fund in the bank.
• Make a decision you will never borrow on depreciating items.
• Most people spend money they don't have to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like.
• Be wise with credit card purchases.  Use a credit card only as a convenience, and pay it off each month.

Family Goals

Your family is important.  Vacations, new relationships between husband or wife, spending time with the rest of the family, seeing each member of the family having a chance to set their individual goals and helping them reach them, planning things together are all family goals.

Each person in the family unit should be encouraged by the others to obtain their goals.  Every child should be taught to expect success and to believe that he was born to achieve, as the acorn is destined to become an oak.

It is cruel for a parent to tell their child they are dull or stupid or they are not like others of their age.  They should inspire them instead with hope and confidence and belief in their success birthright.  A child should be trained to expect great things, and should believe firmly they can accomplish something worthwhile.  And the parents should be encouraging the children to meet their goals.

Every man, woman and child has infinite potential, just waiting to be tapped.  You can't feel desire for something you don't know about.  A generation ago the dictionaries described uranium as a small, white metallic substance with few known uses.  During this past generation, we have seen demonstrated a power from this substance that has changed the course of civilization.  Virtually unlimited power had been in the relatively unknown substance all the time, but since the power was unknown, it was unused.

People are a lot like uranium.  Although capable of tremendous accomplishments, 95% of the people are content to drift with the tides of life.  To them, life is a struggle.  They don't know their own capabilities.  They have never learned how to succeed.  Only a small part of their mental powerhouse is ever tapped.  Unknown, priceless potential remain virtually unused.

Samuel Smiles said, "Every man stamps his own value upon himself, and we are great or little according to our own will."

Spiritual Goals

How do we satisfy the hunger and thirst for a wholeness of our soul?  The great philosophers of the past call this inner longing and need for an adequate reference point - God.  What can I do to help others?  What can I do to daily to improve my spiritual being?

Friendship Goals

Ask yourself how can I be a better friend? These quotes speak volumes of the importance of these relationships in our lives.

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost." Charles Caleb Colton

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
The better part of one's life consists of his friendships." Abraham Lincoln

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up."   Bible: Ecclesiastes

Recreation Goals

When working with people and talking about setting recreation goals, I have had people begin laughing, asking, "What's recreation?"  This is making contact with your family and friends. We need the fellowship with one another.  It's identifying fun things to do.

Physical Goals

You must keep your body in good physical condition.  Exercise, eating right, building healthy bodies, walking daily are physical goals.

As you take an inventory of your life and identify the areas that you need to put into balance, then you can begin to write down goals to help you get there  From there you can then begin to plan your steps to accomplish that goal.

The next few articles we will look at "Test Questions for Setting Goals"; "Goal Setting Mistakes"; and "Steps to Accomplishing Goals".

Leslie Schneider, International Training Consultant, contributing editor, Mindspring  ddatalink@sbcglobal.net  www.abmword.com