Why does setting a goal make it more likely to happen?

Why is it that if you write your goals down you tend to achieve them?

You may be sceptical about this, but I know it’s true because I’ve tested it personally more than once, and many other people have told me the same.  But why?  If there’s a God he probably doesn’t give out Ferraris, or whatever people write on their lists – it’s up to us to make things happen.

Two mechanisms that would explain it

1 – DIRECTION: that the goals are in your subconscious, like a kind of autopilot or SatNav, so you are slightly more sensitive to any possible contacts and leads that crop up.  All the tiny decisions that you make every day all add up and you end up taking a different course – a better one – to where you would have gone.  Having a clear destination stops you drifting through your life.

2 – SPEED: having clear goals makes you more self disciplined (you are less likely to waste time if you are determined to achieve something – on training courses I use Steve Redgrave’s training regime to illustrate this.  How could he have maintained his focus without  the Olympics coming up?) and also it makes you more assertive (you are less likely to let other people drag you of course if you have a clear goal you want to achieve).  These two key skills of self discipline and assertiveness make you much more likely to do the right things in terms of using systems (jobs to do list, master list, write everything down, promises from other people logged in your diary and followed up, etc) and also in terms of using skills like saying No, Negotiating, Delegating, Prioritising (when you do things and how long you spend on them) and overcoming your urges to do things perfectly or to please other people.

And if you have systems and you use skills: you are much more likely to achieve your goals.

So it goes:

Goals lead to…

Self discipline and…

Assertiveness which lead to…

Systems and…

Use of Skills which lead to…

Achievement of goals

…… Goals are the beginning and the end.

so there you are – you go in the right direction, and faster.

Back of the net!

CC