Why Goal Setting Will Improve Your Life
One of the long held secrets of the most successful people in the world is their ability to write down goals and stick to them everyday.
In a study done at Harvard, they followed a graduating class for 30 years and split them into groups of those who wrote down goals, and those who didn’t. At the end of the 30 years they found an astonishing fact.
Only about 2% of those students wrote down and kept goals, and those 2% made the most money out of anybody in the graduating class!
So Why Do Goals Work?
In my experience with using goals, I believe they work simply because they keep you focused on your ultimate goal. It gives you a drive to accomplish them and therefore you waste hardly any time at all until you complete them all. Every once in awhile I forget to write down my goals for the day. At the end of the day when I reflect upon it, I realize how much less I get accomplished on those days. The first time I realized this I was quite literally amazed.
Your mind wants to stay busy, grow, and create new neurotic pathways. That’s the reason why one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease is the fact that older folks become less active and do more things like watching TV. When your brain isn’t active, it deteriorates.
However, we have been socially brought up to think that you “need” to relax for the night after a day of work and that you shouldn’t overwork yourself. While relaxing is a very important part of my life, as should be yours, there is a fine line between relaxing and being lazy.
There is also a very big difference in the way you relax. Watching TV is not a good way to relax believe it or not, and will not help you calm down as much as you think. On the other hand if you spend your relaxation time doing something like meditating, then I can’t argue with you because meditating greatly enhances your brain’s capabilities and power.
Since we’ve been socially conditioned to be lazy, any free time that we have usually goes to things such as TV. But what would happen if your mind was focused on achieving something such as a daily goal?
You don’t have to make a big list. All I ask is that you make a goal, each and everyday, that is ultimately helping you achieve your perfect life. It can be something as small as learning about a new income stream for a few minutes, or something as big as starting to developing a website to make passive income.
It’s been proven that when you achieve a goal, no matter how big or small, a rush of endorphins are sent through your brain. Endorphins are a natural “drug” for your brain which induce happiness, lower blood pressure, reduce pain, and many other benefits. The endorphin rush actually comes to you when you realize that you’ve accomplished the goal in your mind. I like to do this by literally crossing off the goal I’ve just completed. Take a second or two to acknowledge that you’re now one step closer to your long term goal.
Here are some of my goals for today:
- Write a blog post for www.theroadtoperfection.com
- Write a page for www.crazyfortea.com
- Read a chapter of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
- Read 20 pages of “Exploring The World Of Lucid Dreaming”
- Workout
- Write a paper for my communication skills class
- Remove the kitchen island and flooring from my kitchen
- Visualize/meditate on my goals
As you can see I have a lot to do today, but it’s achievable. If I have any time after all these are completed, I will sit down and watch an episode of Friends or talk with my parents. However I usually only watch 1 episode (I have all 10 seasons on DVD) and then get back to work.
I personally go to school full time, work 3 days per week, write blogs almost everyday now on this website, run my other website www.crazyfortea.com, workout 5 days per week (even with tendonitis in both my elbows – no excuses), and right now my dad and I are gutting out and remodeling our entire kitchen. I’m also in the process of making contacts and learning more about real estate, which is going to be another income stream for me once summer comes. Therefore it’s important for me to make daily goals so I stay focused on what needs to be accomplished.
People say I’m crazy for not spending much time to relax and watch TV, but I think just the opposite. One of my many long term goals is being able to provide for my future family and give them whatever they need, so I’m not worried about what I’m missing out on now.
One of my short term goals is to be financially free by the end of this year. Right now I’m 40.5% of the way to my goal.
However once I reach that point I won’t get comfortable. When I graduate next May I’m going to have the option of moving out of my parents house and living on my own. If I do that, my monthly expenses are going to probably triple, so my passive income each month will need to be in lockstep with that so I can stay financially free.
Therefore, once I hit my goal of becoming financially free, I will then add another $500/month or so and reach to hit that goal. Then rinse and repeat.
I’d like to note that I have many other goals besides financial goals. It just happens to be the easiest to explain my financial goals because they’re easily measurable and most people can relate to them.
Now, compare what I’m doing in my life to what most other people do. I’m continually focusing on my goals, re-writing them to make them bigger, and therefore achieving great success for a person my age. I’m getting more passive income than probably at least 50% of adults, and I’m only 21! I’m not trying to brag in the least bit as I don’t need that to satisfy my ego, but I’m trying to make a truthful and scary point.
On the other hand, people who don’t write goals are wondering about aimlessly throughout their lives, waiting for “the perfect opportunity” to come along. Before they realize it they’re at the age of retirement with hardly any savings and relying on an extremely unstable social security system to give them money for the rest of their lives.
So are you willing to set daily goals for yourself in order to achieve what you ultimately want? I believe setting daily goals is one of the most important parts of achieving your perfect life because it makes you focus on achieving that life, without wasting any of your time each day. Try it out for a week and let me know how much more you accomplish each day. Your productivity will shoot through the roof.
Your perfect life awaits you,
Jeremy
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