HabitMix

Goal Tracker - the power of writing down your goals

Goals are like a desired prize waiting for you at the finish line if you have the dedication to actually get there.

A life without goals means the individual is wandering aimlessly around without no specific interest and motivation to improve himself or herself.

Goals and passions are actually what distinguishes humans from animals; it's not enough for us just to survive by securing food, a place to sleep and a partner, we need a higher purpose to expose our talents and to do something exciting and meaningful.

Almost every person has some kind of goals he thinks of in his or her life. Some of them are noble, sophisticated and hard to reach, while others are more simple and easier to achieve. But, there is another feature that makes people and their goals different.

It's the clarity and the vision of that goal. Just like a picture or a painting, goals differ in the quality of their mind representation and in how well these are defined by their possessor. Most people's goals are vague ideas which more resemble with passions.

People are passionate about certain things and they want to get there, but when asked to draw a clear picture about the final destination and the means to reach it, they realize that the colors and the shapes are not clearly defined.

Defining the goals is the best way to make the first step toward their accomplishment. You can't start your journey and put effort into moving forward until you know the final point, or at least some well-defined representation of it. Because our minds are constantly filled with events and routine actions that we perform daily, it is not the best way to effectively depict, store and monitor your goals.

Chances are that in the storm of life events and rapidly changing thoughts your goal colors will fade and will be knocked out off your priorities list forever. No offence to the human mind, which is excellent for finding goals and shaping them, but you need to keep your goals somewhere else in order for them to actually become tangible.

It will be no surprise to find out that the easiest way to define and keep track of a goal is to write it down somewhere.

A piece of paper, a notepad, your laptop, a website and even some of your T-shirts will work perfectly, provided you keep them in your sight frequently. Actually, the most successful people in the world have definite, written goals they followed when developing their careers.

How many people write down their goals in order to accomplish them? The answer will astonish even the most respected Harvard professor.

The 1979 MBA graduates of Harvard were asked a simple question: "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" The results were surprising.

Only three percent of the graduates had written, well-defined goals for the future. About 13 percent had specific goals, but not in written form.

About 84 percent of the survey participants had no specific goals for their future, at least not goals they could clearly define.

Ten years later, a follow-up study has been conducted. The same Harvard graduates were interviewed again. The people in the second category, the 13 percent who had specific goals but not in written form, were earning twice as much income as their colleagues who did not have specific goals at all. And the most interesting part, the people in the first category, the three percent who had written, well-defined goals, were earning ten times as much money as the second and third category of Harvard graduates all together.

The only thing that made a difference is the clarity and the monitoring of the goals. Writing down goals is a very powerful tool in achieving what you want in life.

Frequently, hard work and talent alone are not enough. As Howard "H" White, a motivational speaker and the Vice President of the Nike Air Jordan brand, frequently said: "Success is about creating habits, discipline and structure more than about talent".

Structured, written goals can compensate for one's lack of talent, because talented people frequently live chaotic lives. If you want to get ahead of more than 80 percent of the people, you need to simply write down your goals. Of course, defining and writing goals will not substitute for your discipline and hard work done to accomplish them.

But it will give you a sense of direction and clarity in your daily life.

Certainly, a pen and a paper are good ways to write down your goals and monitor their accomplishment. But how about a more technologically advanced and smart way to write your goals and supervise their progress? If your never used free goal tracking software, now may be the right time. An online goal tracker is a comprehensive and useful tool to write, arrange, monitor and eventually accomplish your goals.

This free goal setting software tool also serves as a habit tracker, enabling you to change and supervise your habits in order to successfully transition from bad, unhealthy habits to good and healthy ones. At HabitMix.com you will find more information on how an online goal tracker can change your life forever.