Somebody once described goals and dreams as magnets; they pull you towards them. I agree with that characterization, but I prefer to think of them as a compass. They point you along the direction of success. Whichever way you chose to look at it, there can be no denying that goals are paramount to your success. I have no doubt you would agree with that, but I am equally sure you would be surprised to learn less than five percent of the population set goals!

In 1953, Yale University conducted a study of its graduates. For twenty years the subjects were interviewed and followed. The results showed that the top 3% earned more money than the other 97% combined. The only difference was that the top 3% had written goals AND a plan of action to achieve them. Harvard University did a similar study of its business school graduates in 1979. They found that other than “to have fun and enjoy themselves,” 84% of the class had no goals at all! 13% had goals but had not created a plan. The remaining 3% had written goals and had created a plan of action. The results showed that the 13% earned more than the 84% without goals and the three per cent earned more than ten times the 87% combined.

It is obvious…having written goals with a plan of action will make you very successful. So why do so few of us set goals? There are a myriad of reasons but here are some of the top ones:

Fear of success.
I know it sounds strange, but some people are afraid of succeeding. They just don’t value themselves enough to feel they deserve success. Some of them think that it is wrong, maybe even sinful, to pursue their dreams and desires. These people may engage in self-sabotage and try to blend in, rather than a stand out, even if it means sacrificing their own success and happiness. Some people drop out of college or never even enroll because nobody else in their family went. I recommend you do not deny your desire to achieve or be happy because someone else, even someone who you trust, respect and love forfeited their opportunities.

Fear of failure.
This is the most common obstacle to goal setting. Most people don’t set goals because they fear what others will think of them if they don’t hit the goals. They figure that if they don’t try, they can’t fail which is true but you can’t succeed either. Theodore Roosevelt said, “Better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not success nor defeat.”  In other words it is ALWAYS better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. Don’t live your life saying “I could a, would a, should a.”

Lack of personal responsibility. 
It is much easier for us to blame some one or something else for our lack of success. It’s our parents, our neighborhood, our boss, the spouse or kids.... the list goes on endlessly. Remember that as human beings we were blessed with a mind that gives us the ability to recall events from the past, analyze them in the present and project them in the future. We are not like the birds that are wired by instinct to fly south in the winter. They would never think of going west one year or staying put and prepare for the cold months. They have no choice in the matter. But we were given free will and the ability to choose. In short our success is our personal responsibility!  To paraphrase Tommy Newbury. ...The prizes of life do not go to those who have been treated fairly, but to those who have maturely accepted responsibility.