I have said it often on this blog that you should write goals down. It is not enough to just have goals, you need to have a record of them. But why write goals down? Is there any importance of writing your goals down? These are the questions I will be trying to answer today. Stay to the end and hear me out.
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How to set and accomplish your goals
Research shows that by just writing your goals down you significantly increase your chances of achieving them.
A significant increase is something that I believe we would all like. And I believe that I have noticed the advantages of writing goals in different ways in my life. So, I am going to dive in below and give you 4 compelling reasons why you should start documenting your goals. These are based on my experience and are the reasons why I still write my goals down EVERY DAY. By the time you are done reading this, I hope that you will jump into action and go on to crush your goals.
1. Writing your goals helps clarify them
When you write your goals down, you are forced to think about them deeply. After all, it is hard to write something that is not clear in your mind. Think about the goals you are setting and visualize them. What will the result look like? how will you feel about it? Feel, see, smell, taste, and hear in your visualization. Basically, engage all your senses.
Use the power of your imagination to see how the end product of your goals will look like. Immerse yourself in the future and write down what you see. Visualizing your goals makes them crystal clear in your mind. When you know exactly what you are going for you are more likely to get it. Create a vision board for your goals and place it where you will see it often.
2. Writing your goals down keeps you accountable.
When you do not have your goals written down, there is nothing to keep you accountable. You have nothing to refer to and remind yourself what you set out to do. Write your goals down to have a point of reference and stay accountable.
Written goals help you to avoid distractions and maintain focus on what you want to achieve. Why? Because you know exactly what you are aiming for- it is written down. It becomes easy to say NO to everything else. Written goals act as guidelines for saying no to good things that are not good for you.
3. Writing your goals down helps you to stay motivated
Sometimes just looking at your written goals can make you want to keep taking action and staying on course to achieving them. Your written goals should include your strategy and action plan. Your action plan shows the specific small steps that you will need to take for you to reach your goal. Make them measurable so that you can actually recognize when you have accomplished it.
Every time you achieve a small step in your action plan it serves as motivation to keep going forward. There is no joy like the joy of achieving a key milestone in your action plan. Even just ticking off a task on your to-do list makes you feel good. Knowing that you are drawing closer to your dream gives you the motivation to keep going.
I believe that the best form of motivation you can get is through your own PROGRESS.
4. Writing your goals shows your commitment to them
Let’s be real, if you have goals but you have not written them down why is that the case? Maybe you feel like you don’t have time to write them down. However, if you don’t have time to write your goals down, are you going to have the time to work on them? Show commitment to your goals by taking the time to write them down. They will become etched in your memory so that you never lose sight of them.
It is harder to keep shifting goal posts when the goals are written down. You cannot just keep changing your mind when it gets hard, the written goals will be staring back at you. And guess what? That pushes you to do the work because no one likes losing, especially when the evidence exists.
Taking action is key
Now you have written your goals down. Well done. But if that is where you are going to stop then you may have just wasted your precious time. It is not time to stop now, it is time to MOVE IT.
Identify some hindrances that you may face in trying to achieve your goals. Write them down and think about potential solutions. Identifying your obstacles in advance keeps you two steps ahead. The obstacles are not going to catch you by surprise. When they come your way, you will be prepared for them.
So push yourself and get out of your comfort zone. Adjust your surrounding to accommodate your goals and pursue them fiercely. Your goals won’t work unless you do. So move it, go and work your goals. Crush them like you are meant to.
Are you ready to take action? Grab the Slay Your Goals printable planner and start today!
Do you write your goals down? How has it improved your life? If you don’t write your goals down already I would love to know why. Leave me a comment below and I will be happy to engage.
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True, in addition, writing my goals also gives me confidence because I often see how I achieved most of the goals I wrote down over the past 3 years. This gives me the confidence to write bigger and daring goals
Totally agree with this, Isaac.Seeing our achievements does make us more confident.
I love this post! I think a lot of people hear, “Write down your goals,” and think it’s as simple as just that to get what you want lol. I love that you explain the reasoning behind it.
So true, there has to be action taken for you to actually see results.Thank you for your comment, Noelle
I never thought writing goals can actually help so much! Will try writing down my goals ☺️
It is, Deeksha. For all these reasons and more. I look forward to hearing how writing goals will impact your life.
In one of my classes my professor gave a passionate lecture over the importance of writing down goals. He discussed a study by Harvard showing the incomes of students who wrote down goals vs those who never did… after 10 years working those who had written goals were making millions more!
I have read about the study and it was quite interesting. But apparently, the Havard study never happened.Check this article out. Thankfully, the said findings were not far from what was confirmed by a study in Dominican University by Dr. Gail Matthews.
Thank you so much for leaving your comment, Caitlyn. Highly appreciated.
Physically writing goals down has helped me so much. It helps me to be specific and determine a time frame to stick to.
Wow, Shannon. I like your testimony that writing goals down helps.