Nothing is predictable and we have more uncertainty than ever before.
“So, why should I bother setting or writing life goals when the world is so much more unpredictable?”, you may be asking yourself.
It can be easy to get skeptical about writing down life goals, especially when life has so much uncertainty and chaos these days.
We start to think, “Why bother?”, “What’s the point?”
From the unpredictable events happening around the world, in our jobs, our businesses, our lives to the uncertainty of the economy and our relationships, it’s easy to dismiss the whole of idea of writing down life goals as an exercise in futility.
While I understand that most of us know what we generally want out of life, we are not very specific about it, often leaving us to pursue a broad idea of “finding meaningful work, making more money, finding love, starting a business.” And we’re surprised when time flies by and we haven’t gotten anywhere.
In my own experience of learning to deal with uncertainty and chaos in life and at work, I have come to the conclusion that writing down very specific goals serves a very useful purpose, especially during times of great uncertainty.
Tweetable: “We’re more likely to get what we want out of life when we are crystal clear on what that is”
Goals don’t have to be money focused or career focused. It can be anything you want to achieve in life.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to lose weight, help your child get into a good college, open a new business or grow your current business, get into a meaningful relationship, trying to get into a new career or quit smoking, I have realized that writing down clear and specific goals are important in life. Setting action oriented and minutely specific goals that we can actually feel with our emotions is crucial to help us deal with uncertainty in a way that helps to move us forward.
Here are 6 reasons why writing down life goals are important in life during times of uncertainty and chaos:
Reason #1 why goals are important in life:
1. A clear goal pulls you out of bed in the morning
Having a clear and meaningful goal in life motivates us to take action. It becomes the reason for why we do what we do. It breathes life into a state of stagnation where we’ve been hiding. Gives us a reason to take action. Having that focus on what we want to achieve, it helps to propel us forward.
Reason #2 why goals are important in life:
2. Brings certainty and clarity
One of the reasons we suffer so much stress and anxiety is because we see the world as a much more uncertain place. We see a changing landscape for our careers, our business and even our relationships which seem to be more complicated than ever before. Having clear and written goals in life focusing on our true hopes and desires gives us something to believe in again. Setting goals helps us to figure out what we really want out of life. Writing them on paper makes them a little more real.
Reason #3 why goals are important in life:
3. Shines a light on what’s really important in life
When we’re forced to write down specific goals, we’re forced to confront our inner conflict. Do we really want that job that seems great? Do we really want more money? Or do we just want to be useful and happy? Do we want to just spend more time with the family? How badly do we want to start our own business? Writing down specific goals helps to crystallize what’s really important to us and what’s not. True feelings and desires are often revealed during times of great confusion and conflict.
Reason #4 why goals are important in life:
4. Focuses your energy on something productive
When we’re living in a world of uncertainty, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. We overthink about all possible scenarios of our relationship or our job. We get distracted by what others think, say or do. We get roped into talking about useless gossip or worrying about something that we cannot control. So much of our time seems to be wasted on things that ultimately don’t matter. Setting goals in life and pursuing them with passion helps to focus our energy on something more useful than worrying or overthinking—which gets us nowhere.
Reason #5 why goals are important in life:
5. Breathes the air of hope into your life
When we’re working towards a goal and start taking action, we get hopeful again. The smallest action gives us some inclination that we’re making progress. And step by step, we begin feeling good about ourselves even when we don’t have any final result. This happens because the possibility of achieving something is often more powerful than the actual achievement itself. It’s a way to prove our worth to no one but ourselves.
Reason #6 why goals are important in life:
6. Moves you forward through the tough times
We all go through life’s ups and downs. Losing a job, getting divorced, turmoil in our business or just plain old craziness at home. When there’s something that we have our sights set on in the near future, it makes the difficult times in life a little more bearable. It gives us something to look forward to and helps us get past the challenging times.
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I believe that for us to move forward in this world of chaos and uncertainty where things are not as predictable as they used to be – we have to learn to better understand ourselves. And that means figuring out what we really want out of life. And it begins with setting and writing down life goals.
[Tweetable: The future may be uncertain but our hopes about what we want out of life don’t have to be.]
Go ahead…Embrace the Chaos | Bob Miglani, Author
