Having a Goal: What Does It Really Mean?

Having a goal isn’t wishing. It isn’t maintaining a wistful hope or a vague dream that someday you’ll have or do or be that thing you keep telling yourself you want. No, having a goal is much, much more.

Having a goal means you have committed yourself, heart and mind, to achieving your aim, regardless of the effort it requires, the time it takes, or the difficulties that arise along the way.

To set a goal is to declare your fixed and unalterable decision to have, do, or be what you have named as your desire. You give yourself no escape clauses. You permit no distractions to move you from your course.

To have a goal is to have constant purpose and an unwavering dedication to whatever it is you want to attain. It’s knowing, deep in your soul, that nothing can stop you because you have resolved that you will not be stopped.

To have goal is be willing to endure setbacks and failures, and to continue your pursuit despite them. It’s a willingness to face criticism, ridicule, frustration and doubt, and to persevere anyway.

To have a goal is to have faith when there’s no proof of its justification, to believe in your eventual success and the ultimate benediction of the universe even when not a single supporting crumb is tossed your way.

To have a goal to set you mind to planning and then to work steadily through your plans. It means tracking your progress, celebrating your successes, and learning from the things that go wrong. It’s a willingness to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with the work of it.

To have a goal is to push your imagination further and deeper than it’s ever gone before so you can see the details and the ramifications and the hidden possibilities. It’s studying the ways others have done what you’re hoping to do and applying what you learn from them.

To have a goal is to be stretched and challenged, to wake in the morning and fall asleep at night with the taste of your dream in your mouth. It’s leaping before you’re ready, daring when you’re scared, and refusing to quit when you’re discouraged because you feel its fire.

And in the end, when you finally achieve your desire and are basking in its glow, you will look back and realize the biggest reward is not the attainment itself, but what you’ve become along the way. That’s what it means to have worthy goals. May your life be strewn with them.