Why should you set goals? 7 reasons

Why should you set goals? What are the benefits of living with clearly defined objectives and a plan? In fact, properly formulated goals give us a lot of advantages, allowing us to eventually make our lives fuller and more interesting, but most importantly, by meeting our dreams, we are not wasting our days.

“In order to build a house, you need a plan. But it is much more important to have a plan or goal in order to build your life, ”said Zig Ziglar, an American motivator.

We all can spend hours talking about our plans, plunging into dreams of the future. Practically each of us wants to change something in his own life. This can be related to many aspects of our being, such as family, career, sports, health, hobbies, travel, and more. We all somehow would like to change something, to become better and happier. And just the first step to this is to set a goal.

Strange as it may seem, some people are afraid to make plans and set clearly defined tasks. They probably associate the latter with something new and unknown, with obstacles that will have to be overcome, with difficulties in obtaining new knowledge and skills, with responsibility towards themselves and others, with difficult work on mistakes, as well as with the possible fear of defeat and shame for not being able to achieve their goals.
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So, to dispel all possible doubts about the usefulness of goal setting, let's see what advantages we get:

1. Clearly defined tasks allow us to take control of our own lives . The goal gives the direction vector, and, like the navigator, helps to go through life. How are you going to achieve what you want, if you have not even set yourself specific tasks? Moreover, aspirations help us determine what is our priority, and then focus our attention and strength on the most important things, rather than dissipate into unnecessary things. If you set yourself long-term goals, understanding what you want to come to will help you on the path to dreams to make the right decisions and make the right choice. They help to avoid what happened to Alice from the immortal work of the English mathematician and writer Lewis Carroll:

Alice: Tell me, please, where should I go from here?
Cheshire Cat: Where do you want to go?
Alice: I don't care ...
Cheshire Cat: Then, no matter where and go.
Alice: ... just to come somewhere.
Cheshire Cat: You will definitely get somewhere, you just have to go for a long time.

2. When a person sets goals and goes to them, he feels that his life has meaning . In today's world, time is fleeting, especially in large cities. And it’s incredibly easy to get caught up in the daily routine and live a dull gray life. One should not forget that each intention realized by us makes us better, changes our world, gives us something that did not exist before. But most importantly - the path to the realization of ideas makes our lives fuller, diversifies our days, filling them with new events. You can’t even imagine what new opportunities and emotions can bring you the most unpretentious goals - such as daily jogging, attending a foreign language course or interesting sections, getting rid of excess weight, improving academic performance, etc.

3. Knowing your goals, you will be more reasonable approach to tasks and more productive to work on them . Instead of just talking tirelessly about your dreams and at the same time not doing anything concrete to fulfill your desires, you will act - because you know what is most important to you. Only by clearly defining your tasks, you can see those anchors that hold you in place and get rid of them, starting to move forward.

4. Goals give confidence and charge with enthusiasm . It is very useful to keep reports on the achievement of goals and to build schedules of progress - this keeps in good shape and allows you to sensibly evaluate your success. When you see that you are moving forward step by step, it is encouraging. For example, when I have a goal, I wake up full of energy and desire to go to it. Thoughts about everything I need to do to get a little closer to my dreams, do not let me stay in bed for a long time. Our SmartProgress service can help you in setting goals and developing a plan to achieve them, and our wonderful community and coaches will be motivated to realize their plans.



Moreover, you begin to understand on the basis of what has been accomplished, what you are capable of and what should be improved. In this way, you gain faith in yourself - something that many of us lack. Having reached the goal, we often get the approval of others, it brings joy and inspires new achievements. After the first successful realization of your plan, you will definitely want to achieve even more, set new goals for yourself and be satisfied with the fulfillment of your dreams, self-realization and understanding of what progress you have made.

5. Goals and planning help make the impossible possible . Many people dream of success and wealth, without making a single gesture in order to make their dreams come true. Setting a goal to earn your first million and creating a reasonable plan, in which large tasks are divided into small ones, you will drastically increase your chances of success. What seemed to be something impregnable earlier will become much clearer and more real, and most importantly, you will see that your dreams are achievable, you need only a good plan and perseverance.

6. Various studies prove that people who set goals and achieve them achieve more in life and are much more satisfied with themselves than those who do not. Your goal may be simple (for me, for example, one of the goals is to translate several thousand characters of text daily), but, having reached it, you always get satisfaction. If you look at goal-oriented people — even those who are role models for you — you can probably see a common feature in them: they are proud of their successes and are aimed at achieving even more in their lives. Take an example from them and boldly follow in their footsteps.

7. Goals help us reach our full potential . Without them, our life often takes the usual course - day after day we are confronted with the same tasks, doing the same things, following the path of least resistance. And although this may give a feeling of comfort and stability, the absence of goals does not accompany self-development, self-knowledge and self-realization — these are important aspects of human happiness.

Working to make our dreams become a reality, we somehow discover something new, coming out of our comfort zone: new places and people, new contexts and situations - all this contributes to personal growth, forcing us to learn, adapt, change and transcend themselves.



I will share my personal experience: precisely because I set goals for myself, I managed to overcome many obstacles and discover in myself those abilities that I had never even suspected before. For example, one of such ability is the talent for learning foreign languages ​​- something that previously seemed to me to be something fantastic. It all started with a simple goal: to enjoy watching English-language films in the original with her husband (translator by training). Then, after the first success, new goals appeared - to read books in the English language, to freely communicate with its speakers. After that came the desire to learn other languages. Now I work as a translator, in my arsenal there are four languages.

Acquaintance with foreign languages ​​has changed my life and made it possible with my husband to engage in a common business. So you never know what the statement and achievement of one small goal can entail. There is a whole world in each of us, we can achieve much more than we could have imagined - you just need to understand what is important for us, set a goal, create a plan and go on a journey of happiness.



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