Setting Goals

     Do you have any goals?  The Harvard Business Review once estimated that only 3% of the population has set goals.  To continually grow mentally and to keep yourself motivated and happy, you must be constantly setting new goals to achieve.  How many of you have sat down and written out specific goals that you want to achieve?  Goals provide energy, direction, and purpose in life.  Goals keep you from procrastinating and prevent boredom.  Goals are like a rudder on a ship.  They keep you moving in the direction you want even when outside forces try to force you to change course.

     Many years ago, a boy by the name of John Goddard sat down on a rainy Sunday afternoon and wrote down 127 goals that he wanted to achieve in his lifetime.  His goals included major rivers in the world that he wanted to explore, mountains he wanted to climb, countries he wanted to visit, things he wanted to learn how to do (e.g., learn to water and snow ski, run a mile in 5 minutes, perform 200 sit ups), and visit the moon.   Don't let the fact that a goal seems unattainable at the moment stop you from writing it down as a goal.  John Goddard wrote down that he wanted to visit China.  He did so at a time when China was a closed society and nobody could visit China.  Now tours to China take place all the time.  It was the same thing with his goal of visiting the moon.  When he wrote down this goal, men had not walked on the moon.  Well, times have sure changed.  Now there are people signing up to go to Mars!  So think big when you write down your goals and have goals in all aspects of your life, not just scholastic or career goals (e.g., family, social, recreational, spiritual, financial).

      John Goddard became an anthropologist and during his lifetime, he achieved 106 of his original 127 goals plus many more goals that he had added to his updated goal list.  He climbed 12 of the world's highest mountains, conducted 14 major expeditions into remote regions, traversed 15 of the world's most treacherous rivers, visited 118 countries, studied 250 primitive tribes, and traversed in excess of one million miles during his adventurous life.

     After writing down your goals, pick a couple that you want to immediately begin to achieve.  Review your goals regularly and update them as you think of more goals you would like to achieve.  This activity will keep you motivated and give you purpose throughout your lifetime.

     Setting goals can be an exciting activity.  Try it!