The Power of Writing Down Your Goals

Yesterday’s article on Core Values – Passion, Honesty, and Excellence brought a flood of emails about writing your goals down on paper, also known as “journaling”.

Many track athletes mentioned they already wrote their goals down in September before the start of the new season and prior to the GPP Training Phase.

Track and Field is a seasonal sport where the ultimate prize is the Olympic Games or World Championships, usually held in the summer or late-summer, unless they are held in the southern hemisphere as in 1956.

On the web and blog front, it was nice to see a lot of bloggers publicly writing down their goals with the upcoming new year

One example is webmaster blogger Tyler Cruz from Vancouver Island. His article posted his goals for 2008. 3 out of his 5 goals was about making money, or making more money to be exact. That’s fine for him, since he’s an Internet entrepreneur, and making a nice living from his on-line opportunities.

However, when setting goals, it is important to set the bar really high, and not be immersed in money or “winning” for that matter. Basketball coach John Wooden never mentioned the word “winning” during his 88 game winning streak at UCLA.

The process (i.e. training or practice) and execution (i.e. the competition) is more important than the actual end result of the competition. This includes the friends you make along the way. When reading Tyler’s blog, you will notice in a few parts where he wants to expand his network of contacts. To me, that goal is more important than money, so as long as you cover your basic living expenses along the way.

At the end of the day, you are only as good as the friends you have and the books you read.