Achieving Goals: Be Specific

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"In ten years, you will either arrive at a well designed destination or an undesigned destination."
Jim Rohn

"Goals: You cannot make it as a wandering generality, you must be a meaningful specific."
Zig Ziglar

One of the most important steps that a person can take in life is to set and keep goals. Most of us recognize this as truth, but so many of us have trouble making and keeping our goals. Whether it's losing weight, getting out of debt, getting a new job, or even something like organizing your garage goals are almost always the same, and should be approached in similar ways. I am beginning a series of posts on how to arrive at your "well-designed destination."

Be Specific
Specifying your goals will do wonders for your ability to keep at them. This can be seen especially when someone's goal is weight loss. Their stated goal is to lose weight, but after a few weeks they burn out and go back to their old habits. I learned this principle in college. I was taking a weight lifting class, and we had to submit three weight-lifting goal. My goals were: "1. Get buff, 2. Get cut, and 3. Get strong." The coach sent it back to me saying those weren't goals at all. He said, "I need real goals, like 'increase my flat-bench press by such-and-such percent in however many weeks.'" The first set of goals were too subjective and progress is unmeasurable.

The same can be said with financial goals. If your goal is to "get rich" you'll probably never reach what your mind would consider the goal. Someone once asked John D. Rockefeller how much money was enough. He answered, "Just a little bit more."

When your goals are not specific one of two things will happen. Either you will give up because you have no measurable progress, or you will become obsessed with your goal and wind up on Intervention.