Keep Dreaming But Start Doing: Why You Should Set Goals

Goals and dreams are often confused. The difference between a goal and a dream is that a goal is action-oriented and a dream is not. You might dream of having a better life, but setting a goal would identify what would make your life better and the actions you need to take to achieve those objectives. We need dreams to inspire us, but goals drive us to action.

This may sound simple, but if you don’t set goals, you can’t accomplish goals and will be a passive participant in your life. While it is possible to stumble upon your perfect life without any effort, the truth is, most people are rarely able to make changes to their lives without setting goals. While luck and opportunity may help improve your circumstances, without setting goals, you will have no idea of what target you’re trying to reach, and therefore, no idea how to get there. 

Why do people buy lottery tickets? It’s not because they want to “waste money'‘ but because they’ve decided that they want to change their financial situation. You may not have thought of it this way before, but people who buy lottery tickets are goal-oriented. Purchasing lottery tickets is an action they are taking or a plan they have to achieve the goal of changing their financial situation. Regardless of the probability of actually achieving this goal with this plan, they are taking an action toward reaching a desired result.

Whether you set New Year’s resolutions, small goals throughout the year, or multi-year goals, setting goals is an important step toward attaining and maintaining the life you want. Once you’ve set goals, you will be able to determine if the actions you are taking are getting you closer to or further away from your desired results.