There is a wide variety of useful information on the web and within our libraries to help you learn new techniques for improving your life. It’s true, the truth is out there. One of these truths revolves around Goal-Setting.
What’s awful and downright a shame, is that we as a society are pretty much ignorant of it. I’m not pointing a finger at the people as a whole and saying how bad we are, bu we are pretty remiss on getting our stuff together to make things better.
I’ll admit, it seems easier to do nothing for improving yourself. You can set yourself on cruise control and do pretty much whatever it is you do daily. This is truly the status quo for most people. Wake up, prepare for the day, do things, relax at home, rest, and repeat. All in all, for most people, this tends to make a pretty simply life.
But, are you growing?
Definition of growth
1 a (1) : a stage in the process of growing : size (2) : full growth
b : the process of growing
c : progressive development : evolution
Thanks to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, we’re now able to take steps to improve ourselves and know that it’s considered growth. This is what the progressive development is. If you took classes in grade school and high school to help you understand elementary subject matter, then you grew in the process of that education.
Where does that education stop? Do you believe you stop learning after you leave school? Or does learning stop after you finish college? What happens if you’ve never attended college?
Goal-Setting Matters
We will walk through a common process to build out a clear plan for success for yourself. From the Dreaming to the Goal-Setting, it’s important to complete the process a few times to get the best handle on it.
Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
Benjamin Franklin
The first step is to take the time to make a collection of your dreams. Free your thoughts and start writing (or typing) your goals into a list. Long lists are fine. Put as much detail as you need to make sure your dreams are defined. If you have family, include them as you set the dreams in place.
You don’t have to worry about what impact or how “real” your dreams are at this point. For example, if you want to be an astronaut or a SCUBA diver, then go ahead and list it - as long as it’s one of your dreams.
Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.
Albert Einstein
After you’ve completed your initial Dreams List, take some time off. You owe it to yourself. Maybe you’ll think of a dream or two more that need to be added to the list. But give yourself time away from the list for a day or two. You can return to goal-setting later.
You’ll return to the list with fresh eyes. This is the time to work through the list and ask yourself a simple question with each item in your Dream List: “Why?”
Knowing the why of each item will help you understand the things your really want to “Be”, “Do”, or “Have” in life.
Identify your Dreams
What are your Dreams?
The first step is to take your time and make a long (or short, but most people find they have many) list of your dreams. What things make you smile as you think of doing them? What things are on your bucket list? What dreams are shared with your family?
Make a list of the dreams you have. No matter how farfetched or outlandish, put them to paper.
Set your Why
What is your "Why?" for each of the dreams you have?
If you cannot verbalize your “WHY” for why you want that dream to help you Be, Do or Have, then it’s really just a dream and isn’t a goal. If it’s just a dream (not bad to have though!), cross it off your list. We’re concentrating on setting up your goals.
Once you’re able to determine the solid “Why” conditions for your dreams, you can go through your list and mark which are truly dreams (and not likely to be fulfilled). Whatever is left is likely a reasonable goal.
Zig Ziglar, the amazing motivator and coach, provided the following questions which I believe truly help to remove the wheat from the chaff. These, if you use them, will help you further qualify your goals list.
- Is it really my goal? (separate your goals from those of your employer, for example)
- Is it Morally Right and Fair to everyone concerned?
- Is it consistent with my other goals?
- Can I emotionally commit myself to finish this goal?
- Can I “see” myself reaching this goal?
Personally, I use this list numerous times a year as I step through smaller goals that I set for myself. For my larger goals, I’ve already hit this list and checked it twice. One item that I find which messes with most people is item 3. You’re going to have to make sure each goal doesn’t exclude success in other goals.
Continued on January 4, 2026
If you would like a nudge on the methods for sticking to your goals once they are set, consider watching this helpful video from Brendon Bruchard.