Culture tells us that setting goals is a really good thing and you should do it, but few people actually sit down and seriously consider their ambitions, but why?

Some of us just don’t put much emphasis on self-development or might not know how to develop goals. Others might just be lazy and just don’t realize how serious goal setting is for our lives.

Understanding the real reasons why and how goals actually create a better life will make you much more likely to develop them.

So let’s take a deeper look into why it is important to set goals.

 

Career Development is an Act of Maturity

Jordan Peterson asserts that choosing where to apply yourself is actually an unavoidable part of life. It is a mandatory step toward maturity or adulthood.

As children, our lives are filled with limitless possibility and potential. We can frequently change our minds about what we want to be when we grow up and it’s even charming to everyone.

But as we get older, our potential, and the latitude for changing paths gradually decreases since our time is limited.

Not surprisingly, it takes a considerable amount of effort to train yourself to become a useful resource for society.

Peterson describes this in the above video as a time where we must “pick our own sacrifice” and pass through an “apprenticeship.”

We funnel childhood possibility through a passageway of development toward expertise and purpose.

This is where goals start.

Without aiming toward something and struggling to get there, we are not really growing up and fulfilling our potential.

Worse yet, if we avoid or delay direction in life, the consequence is that a pathway will be chosen for you, or you will become part of someone else’s goals.

“If you don’t design your own life, chances are that you’ll fall into someone else’s plan” – Jim Rohn.

Perhaps one of the most important decisions of life is deciding on how you will apply yourself for the good.

What is it that you want to contribute?

 

Progress Equals Happiness

Without some sort of plan, life becomes stagnant and listless, leading to very bad emotional places.

If life becomes stagnant for too long, the mind realizes there is no purpose.

Peterson further states that with nothing for the mind to pursue, we may even resort to self-destructive activities such as drugs and alcohol due to essentially, boredom.

We absolutely need meaningful direction and purpose because our brains are hard-wired to chemically reward PROGRESS.

When we make progress toward something we see as valuable, our brains release dopamine and adrenaline, encouraging more progress.

It’s a positive feedback loop. 

Without progress toward goals, we lack any dopaminergic reward for our nervous systems, thus our lives become devoid of positive emotions.

Tony Robbins incorporates this principle in his formula for happiness:

Life Conditions = Your Expectations = Happiness

This means that when your life starts to look the way you envision it, you experience very positive emotions, because you’re making PROGESS toward something you value.

Setting up something to aim toward and then realizing the progress toward those goals makes for a better life.

Exploring what goals are meaningful to you will be a lifelong project and your targets may shift over time, but just get started somewhere.

If you don’t know where to start, this post can help you get started.

 

Goals Force You to Grow

Can you remember a time where you finally reached a goal and afterward found yourself saying “Ok, now what’s next?”

Like after graduating college, for example.

All you focused on and wanted during those years was graduation, but once you achieved it, you found yourself with the sobering feeling of “Ok, now what do I do?”

This is because the goal itself is not really the prize.

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Henry David Thoreau.

The most useful, yet indirect result of the pursuit of goals is the skill and experience you earn during the growing process.

You essentially have to change yourself in order to get the goal, otherwise you would already have it.

Thus, goals must be something for which you will struggle.

Goals force you to find a way.

Without the struggle, you would not gain the level of skill and expertise needed to accomplish it.

Experience is ultimately the outcome, since it can change who we are, how we operate, and what we can accomplish moving forward.

Skills build and compound throughout your career as you progress, paying dividends and leading to more and more success.

 

You Become What You Think About

Earl Nightingale asserts in this video (that you absolutely should watch very often) that goals are absolutely necessary because “man becomes what he thinks about.”

This is essentially the mindset that fate and luck will guide us toward our goals if we concentrate on them often enough.

It works using something called the reticular activating system (RAS), where your brain focuses attention on certain things based on familiarity or what you deem important.

For example, if you bought a new pair of shoes that you really liked, suddenly you seem to notice those shoes around on a bunch of other people. Did they just buy the same shoes recently too?

Probably not.

It’s just that you didn’t notice them before. In a world with so much stimulation and noise, the brain has too much to intake and process, so the RAS acts as a filter for the things that really matter.

Thus, whatever you concentrate on and think about often, you get more of.

People that seem to find the negative in things tend to get more negative outcomes.

It works with goals. The more you visualize your goals, the more your RAS will find ways to achieve them.

 

Conclusion

We’ve all heard that goals are important, but many don’t know the real reasons why and how they propel us forward.

We discussed how, whether we like it or not, we must transition from the unlimited potential of our youth into adulthood by choosing our own pathway. Goal setting is gateway to maturity and development.

Development is not only is a sign of maturity, but part of a deeper fulfillment, since the brain secretes feel-good chemicals to reward progress. Without goals, we can become stagnant and even possibly self-destructive.

Perhaps the most important result of achievement is the skill and experience we gain during the pursuit, which is something many don’t consider upfront.

Goals keep us on track toward expertise, which is what we really profit from exponentially over time.

Finally, we examined Earl Nightingale’s principle that you become what you think about.

The brain’s built-in attention system is powerful and can lead us toward the good, or the bad. Thus, if you think about nothing, you become nothing.

This discussion hopefully provided more clarity on how goals are so very important to our development and success, actually helping us live a happier and more fulfilling life.