Goals Alone are Ineffective

Goals need a mission and a pulling vision.

The Personal Development industry has been built on the premise that people can achieve whatever they put their minds to and if they set goals to achieve those intentions, then they can make a success of themselves.

Each year, new books on various topics in the self-help category are released in the hopes of becoming bestsellers and impacting lives. These books often touch on areas such as mindset, productivity, success, goal setting and several others.

Goals are very important and anyone who has been on a personal development path knows this. Goals allow us to avoid distraction and to focus on the few things that will deliver us success and offer us fulfilment in life.

Without goals, you would be directionless. Just like the ship needs its compass, you also need a goal. But does the ship simply drift around from place to place for no good reason? Not at all! Ships transport goods trading them over to people in the places they visit. They would often have a route which allows them to receive much value and to achieve their aim after which they return.

Much like the ship, it doesn't make sense to simply craft out a bunch of goals and think you would achieve them. Imagine the ship had nothing to gain from making those trips? Would it simply drift around in the dangerous sea for no good reason? Nope! Goals are good but they must be tied to something bigger.

When goals are not tied to anything higher and transcendent of material and worldly things, there is either no motivation to strive for them or that they give no feeling of fulfilment. According to Maslow, self-actualisation ranks high as a human need as we solve the more physical and survival needs.

Crafting a vision and mission for yourself is the right place to start. Having these two binding and related statements for your life gives you a better compass than a compass based on goals that are not linked to anything higher.

When goals are linked to profound statements that give you a purpose, a reason for living, you operate on a personal accountability level. Your motivation is intrinsic. And whether people criticise you or not, whether people praise you or not, whether you receive recognition or not — you would still get the job done. Simply because your mission is based on your self not what others impose on you.

Companies and institutions have been able to do this. It is time everyone saw themselves as an organisation which needs a mission and vision statement. Having written your mission and vision out, you can then move on to craft strategic goals which will help you achieve your vision through your mission — which you execute daily based on the vision and the goals. You operate on an internal compass.

Goals alone are infective as they are often shallow, based on others’ opinions and rely heavily on what others consider as “success”.