The Importance of Having Goals

There is an old analogy about the horse who pulls the cart because the owner hangs a carrot on a stick in front of it's nose. The point of the carrot idea is that we need to have something out in front of us, something we can see, something we can obtain in the near future that motivates us to keep going during tough times. I like to relate this analogy to having goals, setting them, working toward achieving them, feeling rewarded and a sense of accomplishment when we reach them.


Goals can help give our lives some balance. Unless we set some goals for ourselves, not only are we less likely to live up to our potential, but we will have trouble figuring out how well we are at doing something. We need some standards against which to measure ourselves, and goals can provide them for us. We don't know what we can do unless we try, we learn from trying, from trail and error.


Goals are most helpful when they are positive and realistic. Goals can be set over various time frames, they can be long-term or medium ranged, or short-term. It can be important to have short-term goals, daily goals.

When we wake-up in the morning. It is helpful to have a sense of what we'd like to have accomplished by the end of that day. Such daily goals, help give us a sense of satisfaction within our day. When we have accomplished our goal it can give you a good feeling, we feel successful, and that we can unwind and relax without feeling frustrated or dissatisfied.


Goal setting can also be a way of taking larger tasks and dividing them up into manageable parts. If a person has a large task that must be completed during the week, such as packing all belongings in preparation for moving, this may seem overwhelming. A person might have the tendency to put it off until there is no alternative but to scramble to get it finished.

Dividing the task into daily goals, and into portions can help you manage your workload. It can help you avoid feeling stressed out, frustrated or overwhelmed.

This principle can be applied to most of life's tasks and problems, even those that are less tangible. The principle is to decide where you need to go, then identify the steps that will take you progressively toward the destination.



Written by: Kelly R. Middleton