Goals, why bother? Life is hard and just doing the basics can already be too much to handle. I don’t have time, I am too tired, I am just going to sit on my couch and watch movies all day. If I had a nickel for every time I said something like this I could have retired. It is so easy not to set goals. Why should anyone put in the hard work, setting goals and working to achieve them. Let’s start with the benefits.
Growth:
Having a goal and taking consistent steps everyday to achieve it really does compound over time. It doesn’t matter how small a step, whether it is to save for retirement, or get in shape or learn how to play the piano. Small consistent steps will make progress. Let’s take the piano example, the first day you practice. Without question you are going to suck. Oh my god how badly you will suck. Day two, pretty much the same as day one. Now 7 days later, okay now people’s ears don’t start bleed every time your hands touch the keyboard. Then one month and then a year. Now imagine you practiced everyday for 10 years. Is it even statistically possible for you to be as terrible as the day you started? You are guaranteed growth but it all starts with a goal.
Direction In Life:
I will admit that I spent a lot of my life not having a clue of where I was going in life. I didn’t know what I wanted and sort of just reacted to things that were happening. If my friends said hey I want to go watch a movie, I would tag along. If my parents said I need you to do these chores, I would just go do those chores. If there was no one around to tell me what to do, I would kind of just sit there doing anything to distract myself from the boredom. I did this for years. When I looked back and saw that my life, it looked like a crappy movie on repeat. I was bored and I felt inferior to everyone else who was out doing things. Having your own goals solves this problem. It gives you something to focus on, something to work towards. It gives you a direction to head towards in life.
Give You Control:
In everyday life that are millions of things you could be doing. Some can be important to you and others completely useless. Just by knowing you own goals you can control which action you take so that they align with your goals. Let’s say one day you set a goal to lose weight. The following day your buddy calls you up hang out. He says “hey haven’t seen you in while lets have dinner this Friday at the new all you can eat BBQ joint down the street”. So you have two options either agree to go to BBQ or you can offer to meet up and do something else like go for a walk. The sheer fact that you have a goal makes it much easier to suggest the alternative. Knowing you goals and asking the simple question does this action align with my goal helps you take control of your life. Next post we will talk about how to set them and then achieve them.