I’ve always been the type of person that needs to be progressing somehow. I panic and get extremely anxious if I’m not doing anything ‘productive’ for a long period of time, I like to feel like I’m always doing something to progress my life or something that’s useful to my future self.

Setting and achieving goals is an important step toward forward progression in life. Without goals or a desire to move in a forward direction, life takes on a motion of its own. Often that motion is stagnant or backwards. Achieving goals with positive mind control is the way that successful people reach their goals and progress even further.

Now I’m not saying that we can’t relax and have super lazy Netflix weekends but setting goals helps trigger new behaviours, helps guide your focus and helps you sustain momentum in life.

In this new digital age of constant gratification through instant likes and comments on social media, we have come to lose motivation for things if we cannot see or measure our progress. Long-term goals therefore can be difficult to stay committed to. To overcome this, our bigger goals can be broken down into smaller, achievable tasks that allow us to feel we’ve accomplished something without necessarily reaching the overall desired outcome.

Ambition is something a lot of us have but many struggle to take advantage of. Goals help motivate us to develop strategies that will enable us to perform at the required goal level.

Imagine being told to shoot an arrow without being given a target. Where would you aim? This is metaphorically what life is like without a goal or target in mind. It can make your time seem wasteful and pointless and can lead to feelings of depression. Set yourself goals. Give your mind a direction to focus and a target to aim for.

Turn wishes into GOALS. Focus develops motivation and gives you the drive you need to reach your fixed end point. If you were running a race, do you stop in the middle or keep going until you cross the finish line?