Rebel without a cause

“I have always been goal-oriented.  I have a clearly defined set of daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, annual goals and lifetime goals.  I even have goals to go to the bathroom.  I always tell our young executives that they must have goals.”  (From one the multimillionaire interviewed in Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley and William Danko)

I have yet to meet anyone who achieved an admirable level of success in any field of endeavor, who weren’t fanatical about setting and achieving goals.  I believe there is one big obstacle to goal setting.  Fear.

When you set a goal, you are putting your emotions at risk because you may not achieve the goal you’ve set.  One of the biggest human fear is fear of failure.  Having a goal exposes you to that risk of failure.  Some people rationalize not setting goals to protect themselves from experiencing the negative…