For a person willfully to miss out on the staggering advantages of setting goals, there must be a psychological block somewhere. I believe the block is the subconscious realization that every goal has an associated price tag - that it doesn't come free. It doesn't "flow freely from the wondrous bounty of the universe."

There is a price to pay in order to achieve each goal. This knowledge evokes fear which triggers inertia and this stops you from taking this important first step.

Of course most people realize this subconsciously, and after a decade of research, I now believe that I have isolated the main reason why people do not set goals.

It is not ignorance. Everybody now knows the importance of setting goals. Thirty years ago, this was a startling new idea. No longer. Goal setting is a powerful and proven tool for success in any field of endeavor. Everybody knows this, but still they don't do it.

Why?

It can't be the difficulty of the task. Writing out ten goals is not a particularly arduous job - in fact it is quite enjoyable and only takes about twenty minutes. And yet 98% of people never write a goal in their entire lives, even though the task of writing out your goals is so easy and the rewards so obvious.  It isn't even the difficulty of pondering what it is you ultimately want out of life - just ease yourself in with some simple goals, say to move up to the next biggest house and to earn an extra ten thousand pounds this year. Leave complex life-goals ("Who am I? What's it all about? Why am I here?") until you are happier with the whole goal-setting process.

No, there must be something else, and I think I have identified it.

To set yourself a goal means to set yourself up for change. Any goal that you can think of, large or small, basically reduces to the statement: "I hereby promise to change in the following way..." We all fear change - it is the unknown. Fear stops us dead in our tracks.

Above everything else, a goal is a written contract with yourself to do something. To achieve even the smallest goal requires discipline, work, and focus; all three in some measure.  How do you think people react when faced with a contract containing the words 'discipline,' 'work' and 'focus'? Why, they break out into a cold sweat. Their hands tremble and seem unable to grasp the pen. They go to sign, then draw back, then go to sign again. Suddenly, they feel faint. The pen slips from their numbed hand and clatters to the floor. They'll sign that contract one-day real soon now - perhaps tomorrow...

I believe this is why people don't set goals.


Something For Nothing

The people who do not set goals still want all of the rewards and goodies which would have come their way had they set goals and applied the discipline, work and focus. They want all of these things, but they want them for free. They seek to short circuit reality, and this attitude leaves them vulnerable to the happy-clappy, "you can have it all" seminar snake-oil artist.

Copyright Stuart Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved.