The importance of setting goals

Someone once said, "If you strive for nothing, you'll hit it every time." In other words, setting goals prevents you wondering aimlessly through life.
Goal setting = Success
Goal setting is the process of deciding where you want to get in life, and then plotting out a number of steps to lead you there. Success is something we make for ourselves. Fortune has nothing to do with it. All successful people set goals. Some may have an organized routine, others a “vision”. Some may not even purposely set goals at all. But the process is the same.
Successful people decide what they need. By setting and achieving goals, you'll use your time more wisely, perform better and more effectively than ever before and with every goal you accomplish, your self-confidence will increase, encouraging you to strive ever higher.
Short term goals
Short term goals are exactly what you would think: goals put in place to achieve outcomes in a short period of time. You may set goals for tomorrow, this week or this month. In most cases, short term goals are the stepping stones to fulfilling your long term goals.
Long term goals
You put long term goals into place in order to realize your hopes, dreams and expectations for the future. In some instances, a certain desire will be the equivalent of a life-time goal. In others, it will be capable of being accomplished in a fairly short period of time.
For long term or “life-time” goals, you will have to work backwards, splitting your objective up into more achievable sub-goals. One approach is to have a life-time goal (say a 25 year goal) and break it down into 10 year, 5 year and 1 year sub-goals. It'll be clear that by starting long term and dealing backwards, the objective is to burst each challenging objective into possible steps. The outcome will be a regular “to do” list.

Think about it
Before getting too involved in laying out your goals, it’s important to take time to think through what your long term goals really are. Think about what skills you will have to use or which you will need and how to get them. What information and knowledge will you have to call upon? What kind of help or assistance will you need? Which methods will you make use of? Then, after you have considered all the angles, try to prepare for obstacles and plan a way around them. Once you have a specific idea of what you will need and what to watch out for, you can build these things into your goal plan to get where you want to go.

Commit to your plan
Creating a goal plan and sticking to it takes commitment. Be completely dedicated to yourself, and to your values and ideals. Remind yourself regularly of your ambitions. Make a Dream Board by gathering and pasting images together onto a large piece of cardboard that signify your goals (see my latest E-book, ‘Doe wat je leuk vind’. Shortly to be translated and available in English, ‘Do what you want to do’). Write the reasons you want to realize a certain target together with the objective in your goal plan. Read these and look at your Dream Board every day.

When you combine persistence, determination and perseverance you can’t lose! Never give up. Never ever allow other people to tempt you into uncertainty about whether you can attain your own goals. Your success is in your own hands. Reach out and don't hesitate!