By Michael Gidlewski

There are a number of benefits to planning and goal-setting:

Written goals build confidence.

When you know where you want to go and how you plan to get there, you are more confident in your ability. You develop a more positive attitude, a belief that you will be able to achieve more challenging goals. Planning gives you the tools needed to help you overcome negative conditioning by forcing you to concentrate on positive results. Your self-confidence grows and your frustration level is immediately lowered when vagueness and doubt are replaced by focus and concentration.

Written goals add a sense of values.

Goals encourage you to reflect on your values and take a look at yourself in relation to your expectations. Live your life from the inside-out based on your personal values. Making sure your goals are in alignment with your values is a critical success factor. You must have congruence between your goals and your values if you are going to achieve your goals.

Written goals reduce conflict.

There is a real security in knowing what you want to accomplish and how you plan to accomplish it. Written goals help you identify conflicts among various priorities and eliminate damaging frustration. It allows you to coordinate all of your time, effort, and energy on your goal. Written goals eliminate the possibility of unconsciously altering your goals.

Written goals help you save time.

One of the most powerful things about goal-setting is that you quickly learn to use your time constructively. When you know where you are going and how you plan to get there, you know automatically what to do next, what choices to make, and how to overcome obstacles. You move from clock time to goal time. For every minute you spend in planning and setting goals, you save 4 to 10 times that in execution. Written goals serve as filters to eliminate extraneous demands bombarding us every day.

Written goals help you to focus and concentrate.

Once you really decide you are going to reach a goal, you can see, hear, and think of more possibilities for reaching it than you ever dreamed existed. Planning helps you visualize your future. Goals establish the direction for your attention and awareness. Focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want.

Written goals help you make good decisions.

It’s easier to decide on a progressive course of action if you have a clear picture in your mind of what you want to accomplish. Writing your goals lets you take charge of your life; it encourages you to make important decisions early, take advantage of opportunities, and eliminate weaknesses that get in your way. Goals provide a foundation for decision-making.

Click here for a webinar entitled “The Power of Goal Setting: In Your Job Search and Your Career.”

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Michael Gidlewski is President of West Chester-based Achievement Unlimited, Inc., as well as a growth catalyst and motivational speaker. He works with motivated business owners and entrepreneurs to clearly define the elements of what they dearly want their businesses and lives to look like, then helps them connect all the moving parts that make up those visions to consistent action and habits. Michael can be reached at 610-793-6609 or via e-mail at michael@achievable.com.

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