The Positive Effects Of Written Goals

Virtually everyone wants to reach specific goals, both short term and long term.  However, very few people write down the goals they want to reach, only choosing to think about the goals they want to reach.  What they fail to realize is that writing down those goals they want to reach can increase the power they have over us and increase the impetus necessary to reach those goals.  Learn about the positive effects of written goals below.

When people just think about the goals they want to reach, they can easily shove them to the back of their minds and into their subconscious when they don’t reach them.  Sometimes, people will alter the goal they originally thought of to match the work that they did, convincing themselves that they reached the goal they had intended.  However, if you write down the goal ahead of time, neither of the above is possible.

You can’t just ignore the goal you don’t reach by pushing it into your subconscious when the goal is written down and staring you back in the face.  Whether it’s written on a piece of paper, is in a Notepad file, or is in an app, you can’t really escape the goal you set and the reality of whether you reached it or not.  If you reach it, you can beam with pride that you achieved it; if you fail to reach it, you can realize that you missed it and take steps to ensure you don’t miss future goals.

Additionally, by writing down your goals, you can’t just alter them to fit the result you got from the work you put in.  If you only achieved half of what you intended to do, writing down your goal will show you that you only achieved half of what you intended to do.  Conversely, if you only think about the goal that you wanted to achieve, you can always justify that you only got half of the intended work done by thinking that getting half of it done is “good enough” and is a good-enough goal for the day.

Therefore, writing down your goals makes you more accountable on whether you actually reached your goals for the day (week, month, etc.) or not.  If there’s no written record, it’s easier to “adjust” the goal to fit the work that was completed.  However, if you have the goal written down, you can’t escape the fact of whether you met that goal or not.  Therefore, to improve your ability and consistency of meeting your desired goals, it’s important to write them down (on paper, in Notepad, in an app, etc.) before beginning work on them.