Setting clear, well-defined goals is akin to building a strong foundation for a house. Just as a house will sink and crumble without a rock-solid foundation underneath it, so too will your vision without well-defined goals. Goals compound on one another to create confidence, a sense of progress and fulfillment, a clearer vision, and help you understand your responsibility for your own happiness. Here’s how the power of setting goals to make progress can benefit you in your endeavors.
A Clear Vision
Setting individual goals helps you gain a clearer understanding of the big picture. You can have big goals, but taking on a big goal all at once is overwhelming and counterproductive. Goals should be small at first to provide you with stepping stones to the larger vision. By setting goals, you’re defining clearly what you’re seeking. When you know what you want and how to get there, the only thing that can stop you is yourself.
You’ll also want to define ambition for yourself when you’re setting goals. Your ambition, or the desire to reach those goals, will have a major impact on how you reach them. People with great ambitions usually have a more grounded perspective on life, and more focus when it comes to setting the stepping stones to reaching their dreams. Always remember that being clear with yourself about what you want it the key to focused ambitions.
Confidence Boost
Setting goals and reaching them can offer a long-lasting confidence boost that can help carry you through to the next goal; even when things get tough. Self-confidence is the core of ambition, and without it, your ambition is sort of left up the creek with no paddle. Self-confidence says, “I know I can do this because I deserve it.” Knowing what you deserve from your life is empowering, motivating, and the single greatest tool at your disposal. Clarity and ambition merge when you believe in yourself and believe that you deserve better for your life.
Building self-confidence with goals is the most efficient way to go about it. Setting minor goals along the way that you can obtain as pieces of a larger whole will encourage your self-esteem and drive and keep your chin up even when you’re getting rained on. Make no mistake; there will be challenges, but those that believe in themselves are much better equipped to deal with challenges than those who are not.
Responsibility
Goals help you take responsibility; not only for your actions, your progress, and your ambition, but also for your life in general. You should always take responsibility for the things you say and do, and, when necessary, admit fault. Looking inward to find where you went wrong can help you come back even stronger the second time around, and push you to achieve those goals even when you failed the first time.
Responsibility is, unfortunately, not something that everyone masters. While it should be something everyone adheres to, it’s reserved for those who want more self-awareness and a better quality of life. If you don’t take responsibility for your actions, good or otherwise, you’ll find that the goals you set become much more difficult to reach. Someone who doesn’t take personal responsibility is likely to have difficulty finding help as well. Taking responsibility is simply the right thing to do, and can be empowering for the goal-setter.
Discovering Your Motivation
What motivated you in the beginning may be different than what motivates you after you’ve reached a certain goal. Where ambition is the what, motivation is the why. Why do you want to change careers? Make more money? Workout more? Lose weight? Eat healthy? You may not fully understand any of your reasons until you reach a goal or two. Once you lose that first ten pounds, you may discover that your motivation is actually to look better rather than to be healthy, or vice versa.
When you understand your motivation, it’s easier to push toward your goals when obstacles arise. Understanding your why can drive you to new heights, even when before you set out those heights seemed entirely out of reach. Each new goal will create new motivation or reinforce your previous motivation; each of which is beneficial to the journey.
Hardening Your Resolve
Setting and reaching goals helps harden your resolve and make you more resilient to sudden changes or challenges along your journey. Life will throw plenty of curveballs your way when you’re progressing, and that is where growth takes place. The ability to navigate these challenges without losing the vision is crucial to reaching your final destination. Each goal you achieve boosts your self-confidence, which, in turn, hardens your resolve and makes the next challenge even more rewarding than the last.
The Take-Away
Goals are the stepping stones to progress, and the foundation for your hopes and dreams. Setting and achieving your goals builds confidence, hardens your resolve, and makes the vision that much clearer for you. Whether you’re seeking a new financial future, a new job, or a new you altogether, the power of setting goals can’t be overstated. Define where you want to be, how you’ll get there, and what goals you want to achieve along the way, and you’ll be on your way to success.
