I’ll bet you never thought you’d hear me say that!

I’ll say it again…Stop Setting Goals!

I spent years setting goals, sometimes I’d even write them down.

But I never achieved them…and at times I beat myself up about it.

Oh sure, I had dreams…dreams for my family, my health, my career, even a business of my own. But that’s all they were…dreams.

A goal without a plan is just a dream.

A lot people I know live their lives this way. You probably know someone who does too…maybe it’s you. We get so used to it we don’t know any other way, and so we just go through the motions of our lives.

Day after day, I would want more but there I would sit…wanting more, dreaming of more, but living in a “comfort zone” I had created. But it wasn’t comfortable.

I had a dream of writing a book. I even wrote down chapter ideas, stories and examples. But I put it in a drawer and moved it around for eight years. I had never written a book and didn’t know how. I didn’t have a plan or a process.

Then four years ago I decided to get up early in the morning to read the Bible. I told myself I was going to get up at 5:00 a.m. every morning.

And so I did.

But oddly, I didn’t set an alarm. I just woke up at 5:00. What’s up with that?

For three years I got up every morning around 5:00. Sometimes it might be as late as 5:30ish, but I got up and would read my Bible and other books before work.

And I started to like it.

Oddly too, when I went to bed at night I was already looking forward to getting up in the morning!

Why was I able to get up at 5:00 every morning without an alarm but I couldn’t achieve other goals I had set? What was different about this?

It took me a while, but I eventually got it…I DECIDED! I made the decision…one time…to get up early. And that was the difference.

So when I finally decided to write my book “The Success Grower” it only took a decision to write every day…at 5:00 a.m. and after 100 days the book was complete.

So, Mark, why would I tell you to stop setting goals?

Because it’s easy to set goals, and it even feels good when we do. It especially feels good to tell others we have set goals. And that’s where most people get stuck.

They didn’t DECIDE.

Yes, you need to set a goal, but more importantly you need to make a decision that you will create a plan to follow to achieve it.

So, if you set some goals at the first of January, hopefully you wrote them down. If not do it! But now make a committed DECISION to creating a plan and following it.

January may be about over, but you have the future in front of you.

Will you decide to make it a better year? Will you decide to achieve the goals you have set?

Don’t just let life happen to you. Take charge of your life and create the life you want.

Go to my website, The Success Grower, and click on the link at the top to get your copy of the Goal Setting Checklist to begin taking action to achieve your goals.

To your success.