Practicing goal setting is very important. It’s importance is usually underrated by most people. When you have a target to achieve, it helps you focus on important things, take action and prevent taking unnecessary actions.

Like the old saying goes ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’.

One of the most important thing in goal setting is to make sure you differentiate between end goals and mean goals. When setting goals, make sure you set end goals and not mean goals. End goals are the things that you ultimately want to achieve. Mean goals are used as a means to achieve the end goal.

Let’s take the very common I-want-to-be-rich goal. That should not your end goal because I don’t think that what you’re seeking for is more digits in your bank balance. Rather what you are seeking for is the things that money can give you, such as happiness, security, freedom and taking care of your loved ones.

Sadly many people fail to see that and got caught out by it. They try hard to amass more wealth but eventually still end up unsatisfied. This is because they did not get what they ultimately wanted. All this because they put their focus on the wrong goal.

Here is a common story. A young man starts his career in a large corporation with hopes and dreams of making it big someday. He hopes that by earning big money he will have happiness, freedom and security. So he spends the next 20 years working hard to become CEO. He finally achieves it but in the process of getting there, he had to sacrifice his happiness, freedom and time. And even after he becomes CEO he is still as busy and stressed as ever.

So although he finally achieved his goal, he found out that it did not give him what he wanted.

To set a goal, sacrifice for it and finally achieve it, only to find out too late that it didn’t give you what you initially wanted. That is a very bitter pill to swallow.

Take your time when setting goals. Don’t be anxious to get it over with. If you get it wrong, all your time and effort will eventually go down the drain. Think it through thoroughly first because you want to get it right the first time.

Tags: Personal Development

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