The idea that goal setting help us achieve our Success seems obvious doesn’t it? After all, don’t all successful people set goals of some kind? Probably they do. It’s got to be rare that someone stumbles into great Success without a plan of some kind. To truly help us succeed, our goals must be written and they must be real. Here’s three reasons why.

  1. Real, written goals are concrete. They have substance and are easily thought of and pondered. These things create not just a reality about the goal but a nearness and a possibility about it too. Goals that are real and written are the most powerful, because they’re the most connected to the real world and your ability to achieve them.
  2. Real, written goals are specific and measurable, meaning you know when you’ve achieved them or not. When you can see how close the finish line is, and what that exact line is, it’s much easier to lay on that final burst of energy to cross the finish line and achieve the goal. The reverse is true too. If you know how far away it is, you know that steady, consistent work is far more important than a frenzied burst of activity in what is likely to be a doomed attempt to finish.
  3. Real, written goals are flexible. Wait, they were concrete in #1. What happened? Concrete in #1 refers to how real they feel to you. Flexible here refers to your ability to change and adapt your goals as you move forward. When you have vague wishes or just generic goals, there’s no way to be flexible. “I want to earn more money” doesn’t tell you enough to know that you might need to modify your approach. “I will double my income this year” tells you everything you need to know about whether you’re on track or not. If you’re not, you can change things.

Here’s one more way real, written goals help. You stop wishing for things and start working for things. This is more important than the first 3 put together in many ways. Taking consistent action is the real key to all Success. If you can’t act, you can’t achieve. It’s that simple. Working for things will always trump wishing for them. Putting your goals on paper takes the wishing aspect away and lets you concentrate on the working on it part.

For more information about goal setting, get my FREE Goal-Setting report: 5 Things You Need to Know.