Personal Goal Statement: What is One?

Goal setting is one of the cornerstones of self-improvement and achieving success. In fact, it is virtually impossible to reach your full potential without setting goals and putting them in writing. Every successful business in America knows this to be true. Every publicly traded corporation issues regular reports to its shareholders, always including specific, tangible targets for the next reporting period. All department heads of that company will also have goals for the next quarter and year. But many people who try to set goals fail. Why is that? Because they don’t understand how to write a personal purpose statement.

What is a personal goal statement and how is it different from the way most people set goals? Well, let’s first see how most people do it. If you ask the average person on the street if they have goals in life, they will answer, sure, I have many. They want to be rich, or they want to lose weight, or they want to start volunteering for charities, etc. But those are not really objective. They are simply dreams or illusions. A goal is not really a goal until it is written. But guess that? Most people who write goals make the same mistake. They write down these same vague and nebulous goals, and then wonder why they don’t meet them.

This is why. An objective has to be written, and it has to be personalized and specific. Writing “I want to lose weight” is not enough. Something like that won’t inspire anyone, and it certainly won’t focus your subconscious on moving toward a specific goal. No, it has to be a personal purpose statement. Something like “I love being at my ideal weight of 125 pounds.” Or “I love my new job as VP of Marketing.” Those are personal and specific. That’s what to look for when creating your personal goal statement.

As with any goal, you must start with the end in sight. You must know what it will look and feel like to achieve your goal. When you can do this, you are ready to create a personal goal statement. But unfortunately, this is when the real work begins, because then you will have to take the steps to reach your goal! You have to be willing to break your goal down into achievable steps. However, creating a personal goal statement and putting it down on paper is much more than many others go into setting goals. So take the time right now to write it down and see where it takes you!