Goal Setting: The Most Important Factor in Achieving Goals

Goal setting is the first step of turning your thoughts, hopes, and dreams into a reality – and it is a big step. How can you accomplish anything without having a goal to achieve?

Unfortunately, a large percentage of people do not even have goals. A considerably smaller number, yet, have written goals.

Writing goals down is extremely important if you are expecting to be effective in achieving goals you set. It reinforces your commitment to them and helps to make you accountable.

Harvard MBA program conducted a study on goal setting and the results were very telling.

Harvard’s graduate students were asked if they have set clear, written goals for their futures, as well as if they have made specific plans to transform their fantasies into realities.

The result of the study was only 3 percent of the students had written goals and plans to accomplish them, 13 percent had goals in their minds but haven’t written them anywhere and 84 percent had no goals at all.

After 10 years, the same group of students were interviewed again and the conclusion of the goal setting study was totally astonishing.

The 13 percent of the class who had goals, but did not write them down, earned twice the amount of the 84 percent who had no goals.

The 3 percent who had written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent of the class combined.

Are you writing down your goals yet? The sheer magnitude of these statistics should have you running for pad and paper.

There are a lot of reasons why people might not achieve their goals – challenges arise, procrastination, limiting beliefs, or maybe even a lack of motivation.

Read Related Article: How I Overcome Obstacles in Goal Getting

Here are 5 more stats about goal setting and achieving goals:

1. 92% of New Years goals fail by January 15th
2. People who write down their goals have over an 80% higher success rate of achieving them
3. Sharing your goals with a person close to you is proven to increase the chances of you achieving your goal
4. 83% of the US population does not even have goals
5. Only 5 percent of those who lose weight on a diet keep it off; 95% regain it. A significant percentage gain back more than they originally lost. fear failure or even fear of success.

Set your goals and write them down. Be thorough when visualizing your goals, including your feelings, emotions, and senses. Do not fear failure or even success. Have dreams and turn them into reality.

Susan Sly is a best selling author, work life balance expert, speaker and entrepreneur. She has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox, Lifetime Television and the CBN. Susan is the mother of four children and resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.