-goal can be somewhat broad in nature, but not vague. It has to be more than “I want to be rich.” Rather, the goal should be along the lines of “I will own my wholesale electronics business with annual sales of at least $3 million by my 30th birthday. I will live in Metro City, headquarters of my business."

4. Spell out action steps to reach the mega-goal. Include due dates.

5. State the anticipated rewards.

Setting goals and reaching them is tough going, but the payoff can make it all worthwhile if you are truly hungry for success.

To paraphrase the legendary merchant, J. C. Penney, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a successful manager. Give me a stock clerk without a plan and I will give you a stock clerk

It’s very difficult to get there if we don’t know where we want to go.

Do you know of anyone who disagrees with the common sense wisdom of setting a final destination and having a plan for the journey before beginning a trip? Dreaming about it won't make it a reality.

Then why do many of us act as if we can drift along day to day, thinking somehow we can achieve our dreams of career success without defined personal goals, as well as plans to reach them?

Five Excuses For Not Setting Goals

If you are stymied in setting personal goals, a look at five of the excuses people use when they fail to make plans for their futures should help.

1. Goals are not necessary. Research conducted by Yale University of one of its graduating classes found that only 3 percent of graudates had taken all the steps necessary to set career goals and plans; 10 percent had done some of the necessary things; 87 percent very little or nothing. A study 20 years later, revealed the 3 percent had accomplished more than the remainder of the group combined in terms of career positions and financial rewards.

2. Fear. We are afraid that if we set goals and don’t reach them, we will be seen as failures. We are afraid to commit ourselves for fear we will go down the wrong path to a dead end of frustration and unhappiness from which there is no escape. Or we dread the accountability inherent in a stated goal.

3. We simply may not believe it is possible to plan ahead. We tell ourselves, “There are just too many variables and imponderables in life. Besides, successful people are just lucky or have 'pull'."

4. We have so many options and can’t decide among them. We are like the proverbial blind dog in the meat locker. But common sense tells us we can’t have it all. We have to decide on a few specifics and go for them.

5. We may be paralyzed by the feeling that our hopes are so enormous that they are beyond our reach. The first step seems so insignificant, so we sit there, mesmerized by our dreams and overawed by the enormity of it all, hoping something will happen. It is at this point that we start to believe we have goals when what we really have are wishes.

Five Ways To Deal With Excuses

There are five steps we can take to exorcise the excuses.

1. Get rid of groundless fear that goals and plans are forever. Neither imposes an irrevocable life sentence. It may seem paradoxical, but good goals and plans take into account that new circumstances may dictate course changes along the way. It’s okay to switch goals, if our notions of success change. However, it is not healthy to change goals if we are running away from obstacles and hard work.

2. Define where we are now. What are our qualifications? What are our interests? What drives us? What price are we willing to pay to reach our goals.

3. Define in writing the mega-goal we aim to achieve by a specific time in the future, say three to five years. It can a stretch goal, but not an unrealistic one. The mega-goal can be somewhat broad in nature, but not vague. It has to be more than “I want to be rich.” Rather, the goal should be along the lines of “I will own my wholesale electronics business with annual sales of at least $3 million by my 30th birthday. I will live in Metro City, headquarters of my business."

4. Spell out action steps to reach the mega-goal. Include due dates.

5. State the anticipated rewards.

Setting goals and reaching them is tough going, but the payoff can make it all worthwhile if you are truly hungry for success.

To paraphrase the legendary merchant, J. C. Penney, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a successful manager. Give me a stock clerk without a plan and I will give you a stock clerk

ses found that only 3 percent of graudates had taken all the steps necessary to set career goals and plans; 10 percent had done some of the necessary things; 87 percent very little or nothing. A study 20 years later, revealed the 3 percent had accomplished more than the remainder of the group combined in terms of career positions and financial rewards.

2. Fear. We are afraid that if we set goals and don’t reach them, we will be seen as failures. We are afraid to commit ourselves for fear we will go down the wrong path to a dead end of frustration and unhappiness from which there is no escape. Or we dread the accountability inherent in a stated goal.

3. We simply may not believe it is possible to plan ahead. We tell ourselves, “There are just too many variables and imponderables in life. Besides, successful people are just lucky or have 'pull'."

4. We have so many options and can’t decide among them. We are like the proverbial blind dog in the meat locker. But common sense tells us we can’t have it all. We have to decide on a few specifics and go for them.

5. We may be paralyzed by the feeling that our hopes are so enormous that they are beyond our reach. The first step seems so insignificant, so we sit there, mesmerized by our dreams and overawed by the enormity of it all, hoping something will happen. It is at this point that we start to believe we have goals when what we really have are wishes.

Five Ways To Deal With Excuses

There are five steps we can take to exorcise the excuses.

1. Get rid of groundless fear that goals and plans are forever. Neither imposes an irrevocable life sentence. It may seem paradoxical, but good goals and plans take into account that new circumstances may dictate course changes along the way. It’s okay to switch goals, if our notions of success change. However, it is not healthy to change goals if we are running away from obstacles and hard work.

2. Define where we are now. What are our qualifications? What are our interests? What drives us? What price are we willing to pay to reach our goals.

3. Define in writing the mega-goal we aim to achieve by a specific time in the future, say three to five years. It can a stretch goal, but not an unrealistic one. The mega-goal can be somewhat broad in nature, but not vague. It has to be more than “I want to be rich.” Rather, the goal should be along the lines of “I will own my wholesale electronics business with annual sales of at least $3 million by my 30th birthday. I will live in Metro City, headquarters of my business."

4. Spell out action steps to reach the mega-goal. Include due dates.

5. State the anticipated rewards.

Setting goals and reaching them is tough going, but the payoff can make it all worthwhile if you are truly hungry for success.

To paraphrase the legendary merchant, J. C. Penney, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a successful manager. Give me a stock clerk without a plan and I will give you a stock clerk

st too many variables and imponderables in life. Besides, successful people are just lucky or have 'pull'."

4. We have so many options and can’t decide among them. We are like the proverbial blind dog in the meat locker. But common sense tells us we can’t have it all. We have to decide on a few specifics and go for them.

5. We may be paralyzed by the feeling that our hopes are so enormous that they are beyond our reach. The first step seems so insignificant, so we sit there, mesmerized by our dreams and overawed by the enormity of it all, hoping something will happen. It is at this point that we start to believe we have goals when what we really have are wishes.

Five Ways To Deal With Excuses

There are five steps we can take to exorcise the excuses.

1. Get rid of groundless fear that goals and plans are forever. Neither imposes an irrevocable life sentence. It may seem paradoxical, but good goals and plans take into account that new circumstances may dictate course changes along the way. It’s okay to switch goals, if our notions of success change. However, it is not healthy to change goals if we are running away from obstacles and hard work.

2. Define where we are now. What are our qualifications? What are our interests? What drives us? What price are we willing to pay to reach our goals.

3. Define in writing the mega-goal we aim to achieve by a specific time in the future, say three to five years. It can a stretch goal, but not an unrealistic one. The mega-goal can be somewhat broad in nature, but not vague. It has to be more than “I want to be rich.” Rather, the goal should be along the lines of “I will own my wholesale electronics business with annual sales of at least $3 million by my 30th birthday. I will live in Metro City, headquarters of my business."

4. Spell out action steps to reach the mega-goal. Include due dates.

5. State the anticipated rewards.

Setting goals and reaching them is tough going, but the payoff can make it all worthwhile if you are truly hungry for success.

To paraphrase the legendary merchant, J. C. Penney, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a successful manager. Give me a stock clerk without a plan and I will give you a stock clerk

exorcise the excuses.

1. Get rid of groundless fear that goals and plans are forever. Neither imposes an irrevocable life sentence. It may seem paradoxical, but good goals and plans take into account that new circumstances may dictate course changes along the way. It’s okay to switch goals, if our notions of success change. However, it is not healthy to change goals if we are running away from obstacles and hard work.

2. Define where we are now. What are our qualifications? What are our interests? What drives us? What price are we willing to pay to reach our goals.

3. Define in writing the mega-goal we aim to achieve by a specific time in the future, say three to five years. It can a stretch goal, but not an unrealistic one. The mega-goal can be somewhat broad in nature, but not vague. It has to be more than “I want to be rich.” Rather, the goal should be along the lines of “I will own my wholesale electronics business with annual sales of at least $3 million by my 30th birthday. I will live in Metro City, headquarters of my business."

4. Spell out action steps to reach the mega-goal. Include due dates.

5. State the anticipated rewards.

Setting goals and reaching them is tough going, but the payoff can make it all worthwhile if you are truly hungry for success.

To paraphrase the legendary merchant, J. C. Penney, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a successful manager. Give me a stock clerk without a plan and I will give you a stock clerk

-goal can be somewhat broad in nature, but not vague. It has to be more than “I want to be rich.” Rather, the goal should be along the lines of “I will own my wholesale electronics business with annual sales of at least $3 million by my 30th birthday. I will live in Metro City, headquarters of my business."

4. Spell out action steps to reach the mega-goal. Include due dates.

5. State the anticipated rewards.

Setting goals and reaching them is tough going, but the payoff can make it all worthwhile if you are truly hungry for success.

To paraphrase the legendary merchant, J. C. Penney, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a successful manager. Give me a stock clerk without a plan and I will give you a stock clerk.”

XXX