When we have a fantasy, such as owning a big yacht and travelling the world while drinking champagne, we are simply escaping the mundane nature of our lives. We are thinking of that yacht and believing it to be a goal simply because we wish to run away – in our heads – from the reality of life. If life is simply suffering an existence, then creating pie in the sky dreams and fantasies is just making things worse. You always have to deal with reality, whatever happens. Escapism is just a brief period of mental relief. If you are setting goals that are more fantastic than realistic, this is a waste of time. For some people it is actually dangerous, because it can affect one’s standard of living. If all you are doing is hoping for a miracle to happen while real life throws challenges at you, eventually you will sink into a fog of disappointment and bitterness as your hopes and dreams are crushed.  And it is certainly not effective goal setting.

Goals, on the other hand, real, exciting goals that motivate you and give your life meaning and purpose, are things that can be accomplished next month, or next year. They help us understand ourselves better, and they enable us to enjoy reality as a setting for an amazing life.

Goals also push us towards developing a clear vision for our life. They help us get ourselves in shape and focused before we are able to reach out and help others. Helping others forms the basis of everyone’s life vision, but you can’t have a life vision unless you have clear goals that are right for you.

So it’s important that you know how to sit down and forge your goals. Once you have done this there will be greater clarity in your life. You will understand every single incident, good or ill, that happens to you. Waking up every day will just be a small part of your master plan. You will feel energised and ready for anything.

To make your goals even more powerful, work your goal setting into a conversation with a mentor or coach. The more you do this, the more clarity you will receive.

So goals are real, in that they are realistic. They also feed into a life vision that will allow you to make your life a wonderful, inspirational thing.

The next step is getting them written, which we will be discussing in our next article.