why do we set goals?

I have been in Paris and Monaco for the past week and have not had time to do a blog for a few days.  I am flying back to Dubai this afternoon, but I first wanted to do a quick blog in reply to an interesting email I received this morning from someone who knows me well — in the mail he suggests that I do a blog on why do we set goals?

His comment is focused on the idea that all too often goals are set without being fundamentally grounded in “why” it is a goal. He asked: Big or small, should not a goal be rooted in some type of value-based process?

He asked me…  Why do I want to do the Ironman?  Why do I want to make 100 million euros?  Why do I want to travel to as many countries as I can?”  Why do I want to visit Iran?

In my opinion, if we think too much about why we want something (why we set a certain goal), we will end up sitting around just thinking about it – and possibly not go about trying to achieve — the goal.

Our biggest goals surely have an immutable “why” to them – for example, “achievement” is core to who I am (or better put: who I want to be)  – but my goal of traveling to Iran has only to do with my love of adventure.

However….

If I sat around trying to figure out and understand exactly why I have certain goals … I could easily talk myself out of trying to achieve them.

Even if one maps out and understands clearly why they want to achieve a certain goal — it is meaningless if one does not do everything in their power to achieve the goal.

A quote I once read:  If you shoot for the moon, but miss – you will still land in the stars …

I suggest going after a goal, and doing everything in ones power to achieve it – even if one fails in the end, is still better than sitting around at a cafe thinking about why they should be setting the goal.