"Your direction is more important than your speed." -- Richard L. Evans
Many studies on peak performance have indicated that most people, who can be described as peak performers, are also habitual goal setters. They all have a burning desire to reach their goals. As "average" individuals (formerly underachievers!) begin to set goals, their level of achievement tends to rise dramatically. Their subconscious minds starts to assist them in realizing their goals.
I've heard of a study at Yale University which started in 1953. They asked graduating seniors, "Have you set specific goals for your life, written them down and made plans to reach your goals?" The replies indicated that only 3% had done this. Twenty years later, they found that, together, the 3% who had set goals, written them down, and had made plans to realize their goals were financially worth more than the other 97% put together!
The term "appropriate goals" is important. You don't want to set goals that are too high or too low. It may be worthwhile to review your goals once a month or so.
It may not be appropriate to share your goals with family and friends. They may use your goals as an opportunity to put you down by telling you that you'll never succeed. Secretly, they may want you to fail, because they don't want to be shown up by your doing better with your life than they are doing.
