Brian Tracy debunks five myths about goal setting, arguing that written, measurable goals are essential. Mental goals stay vague and wishes aren't goals. Even when life is unpredictable, goals guide progress and require only course corrections along the way.
3%
About 10 times as much.
Hello. Did you know that only 3% of adults have clear, written, measurable time, bounded goals and plans to achieve them? And by Every statistic, these 3% accomplish 10 times as much as people with no goals at all. Now, why is it then that most people have no goals? If you earn 10 times as much with goals, if you have 10 times as much success with goals, why don't people all have goals? Well, there are five myths about setting goals and objectives that might help you rethink your decisions about not setting goals for yourself. The first myth is, I already have goals I don't need to set any. People who say this also say that their goals are, I want to be rich and I want to be thin, and I want to be happy and successful and popular and live my dreams. But these are not goals. These are wishes and fantasies common to all mankind. Crazy people and homeless people have these as goals. They're not goals. They're just fantasies. Sometimes they're just delusions. A goal, on the other hand, is like a beautiful home, carefully designed, upgraded, continually improved regularly, and worked on constantly. If it's not in writing, it's merely a dream or a wish. And we say that a goal that is not in writing is a wish with no energy behind it. It has no power in your life. It's just a vague objective that comes in and out of your life, sort of like a sunrise and a sunset, without ever accomplishing anything. Now, the second most common myth that people don't set goals is, I don't need goals. I'm doing fine. Living your life without goals and objectives is like setting off across an unknown country with no road signs and no roadmap, but you have no choice then but to make it up as you go along, reacting and responding to whatever happens all day, all week, all month, and then just hoping for the best. If you are doing well today without written goals and plans, wow, it means you could probably be doing many times better in the future if you had clear targets to aim at and the ability to measure your progress as you go along. It's vital to have goals in every part of your life. Myth 3 about goal setting is, I don't need written goals. I have them all in my mind. The average stream of consciousness includes about 1,500 thoughts or words a minute race through your mind like a river. If your goals are only in your mind, they're invariably jumbled up, vague, confused, contradictory, and deficient in many ways. If your goals are just tumbling around in your mind, they offer no clarity and they give you no motive power. You become like a ship without a rudder, drifting with the ties, crashing into the rocks and. And eventually you'll never realize your full potential. The fourth most common myth is I don't know how to set goals. Well, no wonder. You can take a master's degree at a leading university and never receive a single hour of instruction on goal setting and goal achieving. But fortunately, setting a goal is a skill like time management, or teaching, or selling, or managing, or even riding a bicycle. Anything else that you need to become a highly productive person. And all skills are learnable. This was the great turning point in my life. All essential skills are learnable. Everybody who can do it today at one time could not do it at all. And what others have learned, you can learn as well. You can learn the skill of goal setting by practice and repetition until it becomes as easy and as automatic as breathing in and breathing out. And from the very first day that you begin setting goals, the progress you will make and the successes you will enjoy will absolutely astonish you. Now, the final myth that people use not to set goals is goals don't work. Life is too unpredictable. Well, here's an analogy. When a plane takes off for a distant city, it will be off course 99% of the time. The complexity of the avionics and the skill of the pilots are focused on continual course corrections. Now, it's the same in life, but when you have a clear long term goal with specific plans to achieve it, you may have to change course many times. And you will. But you will eventually arrive at your destination of health and wealth and great success. You have two choices in life. You can either work on your own goals, or you can work for someone else and work on achieving their goals. When you learn how to set goals for yourself, you take complete control of your life and jump to the front of the line in your potential for great achievement.
