Why It Helps To
Write Your Goal Down

Welcome to the Write Your Goal page. This web site is about setting and achieving personal goals. To see more goals articles please go to our achieve your personal goals or setting goals pages.

Why is this?

First, let me say that I now do this everyday - first thing in the morning - before I start work.

I didn't used to do it - in fact, it was reading goals material for this web site that made me change. And I can tell you that it works for me. What I mean to say is that it helps me focus my daily activities on achieving my goals.

Maybe you're a bit like me. I used to know my goals 'in my head', but I couldn't be bothered to put them on paper. Well, I did sometimes but then I'd kind of forget about them.

Here's some of the evidence that changed my mind.

First, Brian Tracy, in his book 'Goals: How To Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible', says that this is the technique that changed his life (chapter 15). He says write your goal down every single day. When I first read that I thought "sounds like too much hard work". But think again. When someone like Brian Tracy says, not just that it's a good idea, but that it 'changed his life', I think you have to pay attention.

Second, a number of writers talk about the power of focus. Focusing your time and energy on activities that move you towards your goals has to be the right strategy. How do you achieve this focus? Well, what if you were to set out your goals in writing every day? It's a good start.

Third, as explained by 'the goals guy' Gary Ryan Blair, the reason for achieving a goal is to satisfy a reason why - maybe several reasons why. When I list my goals each day I also note down the reasons why I want to achieve each goal. So I focus on my motivation as well as my goal - the why as well as the what.

I don't have time in this article to go into the workings of the brain in any detail - more about that on a future date. But it's important to note that whenever you go through the process of committing something to paper, you tell a part of your physical brain - the reticular activating system - to seek out information that will help you achieve what you've written.

So, why not try an experiment? Write your goal down every day and see what happens.

BACK to Goal Setting Articles

HOME to Make Your Goals Happen