Goals are a very broad term that can have different meanings for people. And goals can be for all sorts of things such as your home life, school, personal goals, and overall goals. The most important thing is to not make your goal too unreachable.

“The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self respect springs”. – Joan Didion

Goals keep people from suffering more than they should. They can be daily goals like, “I will go to the gym today” or “I will call my Grandma today”. The goal never needs to be too extravagant, but just something to keep us going. People can easily get set back from little things that happen to them throughout their day, but having the power of controlling their own goals that can’t be stopped by anyone but themselves is very powerful.

“Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer”. – Rainer Maria Rilke

The struggle many people have, including me, is overthinking things. It is an uncontrollable thing for many people, but it usually has a negative outcome. There are certain things in life that take time to think over and going through consequences of choosing one thing over another, but other things will only hurt you if you over think them. Focusing on the negative will only make you feel worse.

“Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing”. – William Butler Yeats

Achieving a goal is the greatest feeling, and it challenges you to keep improving your goals. Having something to work for is the best motivation to keep you going throughout the day. Little goals or big goals can still build up your confidence, and build you up to greater goals in life.

“You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals”. – George S. Patton

Everyone around you is probably setting goals either consciously or unconsciously. Many people set goals without noticing, like when you think in your head how you are going to finish this online quiz before the weekend. Achieving that would be achieving your goal of finishing the quiz, but you didn’t consciously think of setting a goal to finish the quiz. Athletes and people in the workplace set goals daily because it gives them short spurts of motivation and helps them focus on their talents; because without setting goals, your talents are useless. You have to put your mind to work to get something out of it.

While goals can keep one motivated and focused, it also just makes you feel good to know you have achieved something, especially if it is something challenging. People love to feel accomplished, and reaching a goal will definitely make you feel that way.