Setting Goals

In his early years and near poverty, actor Jim Carrey wrote a note on a peice of paper, stuck it his shirt pocket, and kept it there until he no longer needed it.

The note read, "Make a million dollars."

From stories like Jim carrey's, we assume that setting goals is the first step to achieving them. We assume Jim Carrey made a million dollars because he set it as a goal and wrote it down. It's a rare self-improvement book, we suspect, that does not stress, "Set goals."

But we misunderstand goal-setting.

First, you have set goals even if you've never written them down. You want to watch what you eat, run three miles with less effort, get closer to your father. You rarely think about these "goals." But at one time, those thoughts crossed your mind, and you devoted yourself to them. You set goals and few human beings do not.

But the value of goal-setting does not come just from the goals. It comes from the thinking that went into the planning, and the knowledge that comes out. Set goals with others and you learn. You learn what others value, and that helps you make better and more informed decisions every day.

In business, the same regularly proves itself. The value of a business plan rarely comes from the goals and strategies. Those goals and strategies change so early and often that most business plans are better viewed as, "What do we plan to do until we change our minds?" That we ignore these plans does not matter. What matters is what happened as you made the plan.

EVERYONE LEARNED.

SET GOALS NOT BECAUSE THEY WILL HELP YOU REACH THEM, BUT BECAUSE THEY WILL TEACH YOU.