One of my favourite stories (or parables) is about 2 young boys who were out hiking and came to a large field. They decided to have a contest to see who could walk the straightest line across the field. They were going to figure this out by counting the number of steps it took each of them to cross the field.

The first young boy began walking, looking down at his feet, sometimes looking up, and sometimes even looking back to see how far he had come as his friend counted each of his steps. He zigzagged across the field, arriving at the other side after 120 steps.

Returning to their starting point, the second boy – with a confident grin – began his walk. But before he did, he spotted a small bush across the field and fixed his eyes on this target. As he walked, he kept his eyes glued to the bush. His friend walked beside him, echoing the count of each step. After 90 steps, the second boy reached his destination.

Of course, you already understand the lesson here – the boy who had his focus on his future reached his destination easier and more quickly than the boy who was watching his feet or looking back, with only occasional focus on his destination.

Although human being are purposeful, most people don’t achieve what they want because they lack clarity bout what they want. They don’t set goals because they don’t know how.

In setting goals you need also to know what drives you. Most people spend the majority of their time on the creation of their goals and neglect the WHY. But in actuality, we need to identify what is the sustainable factor that’s going to allow us to overcome adversity, challenges, and setbacks. What’s going to inspire us for excellence and motivate us to do the things we want to do? That really comes down to the WHY’s- the reasons we set the goal in the first place.

If you’re bored with life — you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.
- Lou Holtz

The vast majority of successful people are also very goal-oriented. They understand the power of goal setting; of writing what you want down so that you can see it and be reminded of it on a regular basis.At the most basic level, goal setting provides a means for determining what you want out of life; how you want to spend the next 30 days, 1 year or even an entire lifetime.  Personal goal setting is a skill that once acquired can provide the mental and emotional support one needs in order to persist through oncoming obstacles and barriers.

Set Goals with focus and determination.

By creating sharply focused and clearly defined goals and plans, you can monitor and track your progress and take genuine pride from the achievement of each step in the process. People who invest the time necessary to create solid goal plans regularly achieve more. They are more fulfilled in life and possess more confidence in their ability to meet the challenges in front of them.

“Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.”
- Robert H. Schuller

When prioritizing goals, use “Big Rock” thinking. Think of each goal in terms
of the weight it carries in your life. In other words, does the goal represent a big rock, carrying a lot of weight, that if achieved would make a tremendously positive impact on your life?

GO FOR THE BIG ROCKS FIRST.