Why You Should Write Down Your Goals ... By Warren Greshes

I’m sure I’m not the first person to ever tell you to write down your goals and hopefully I won’t be the last. Naturally, that might be because it’s good advice.

I’ve always felt there were three real good reasons to write down your goals and they’re outlined below.

1. So You Won’t Forget: This falls under the heading of “Things that sound dumb, but are true.” Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night with a good idea? What did you do? Probably went right back to sleep. Well, if you did, what happened to that good idea when you woke up in the morning? I’ll bet you forgot it.

Now, I’ve had a lot of people say to me, “I don’t have to write down my goals. These are important to me; I’m not going to forget.”

I’ll bet that good idea that woke you up in the middle of the night was pretty important too. Important enough to wake you up at three in the morning and I’ll bet you were convinced you were going to make millions from that idea. In fact, it was so important, you went back to sleep and four hours later, when you woke up, it was gone.

How long do you think it will take you to forget your goals: Eight hours, sixteen, maybe twenty-four?

Write it down, this way you won’t forget.

2. Writing Down a Goal is the First Commitment to Actually Doing It: Let’s face it, we all have goals; we all have dreams. But you know the big stuff, the big goals, the big dreams; You know as well as I that these can take as much as two, three, five or ten years of hard work, effort energy and commitment to achieve. Well, if you’re not willing to take five or ten minutes to write it down, what makes you think you’ll be willing to put in five or ten years of time, energy, effort and hard work to achieve it?

One of the reasons most New Year’s resolutions don’t succeed is that they’re just empty statements. Do you really think you’re going to go through all the agony and sacrifice of quitting smoking or losing weight if you’re not even willing to do the easy part and write it down?

Write it down: it’s your first commitment to actually doing it.

3. Writing Down a Goal Makes you Accountable to the Only Person you Cannot Fool: Yourself: Admit it, you can fool anyone you want. You can fool your spouse, parents, friends, boss, co-workers and children, but there’s one person who always knows the absolute truth: you.

When you have a goal that’s written and therefore visible, you’re going to give it your best shot. You’ll never want to admit to yourself that you didn’t even try to achieve those things you most wanted to accomplish in your life.

There are some people who believe that if they don’t write down their goals, they’re not accountable: out of sight, out of mind. But I really believe that no matter what, you still have to look in the mirror every morning.
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Warren Greshes is a professional speaker, who has keynoted corporate and association meetings throughout the world for the last 20 years. In addition, he is the author of “The Best Damn Sales Book Ever: 16 Rock-Solid Rules to Achieving Sales Success,” and hosts his own talk show and podcast, “The Warren Greshes Show: Your Voice for Sales, Success and Small Business.” To learn more about Warren go to www.GreshesNetwork.com Warren can be contacted at: 1-800-858-1516 or by email at: warren@greshes.com.