| Nearly every motivational guru will tell you , "You | | | | had conquered all the known (to Western Europeans) |
| have to have written goals." I've even said so | | | | world? Where were the written goals of the |
| myself, "If you're not committed enough to your | | | | founders of the United States: Adams, Jefferson, |
| goals enough to put it in writing, you're not | | | | Franklin, Washington and others? Were are Lincoln's |
| committed enough to your goals to achieve them. | | | | written goals? Fredrick Douglas? What about George |
| Brian Tracy gives further proof of the importance of | | | | Washington Carver, Madame Curie, Nicolai Tesla, or |
| written goals. In his book Goals! he reports on a | | | | Edison? Where are their written goals? There is no |
| study that reveals just how effective written goals | | | | record of them. |
| can be. According to Tracy in a Harvard study | | | | In any field of endeavor, science, literature, art, |
| conducted between 1979 and 1989, the graduates of | | | | sports, military, politics, religion, or any other, think of |
| the MBA program were asked, "Have you set clear, | | | | the people who were or are most successful. I |
| written goals for your future and made plans to | | | | challenge you to find a list of written goals. You may |
| accomplish them?" Only 3 percent of the graduates | | | | find their goals stated in correspondences or articles |
| had written goals and plans. Thirteen percent had | | | | they have written. You might even find in their |
| goals, but not in writing. Fully 84 percent had no | | | | journals statements of what they are hoping to |
| specific goals at all. | | | | accomplish. What you won't find is a "to-do" list of |
| Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers found that | | | | accomplishments or acquisitions. They didn't, as many |
| the 13 percent who had goals that were not in | | | | motivational gurus advise, write out their goals. They |
| writing were earning twice as much as the 84 | | | | certain place sticky notes with their written goals |
| percent of students who had no goals at all. Most | | | | around their house as reminders. |
| surprisingly, they found that the 3 percent of | | | | What about the most successful people today? Do |
| graduates who had clear, written goals when they | | | | they have written goals? Possibly so since the myth |
| left Harvard were earning, on average, 10 times as | | | | of written goals has been around for several decades |
| much as the other 97 percent of graduates all | | | | now. Would they have written goals were it not for |
| together. The only difference between the groups | | | | the myth of the importance of written goals? Would |
| was the clarity of the goals they had for themselves | | | | they be any less successful without them? |
| when they graduated. | | | | The difference between success and mediocrity, and |
| Did you catch that? The 3 percent who had clear, | | | | between mediocrity and failure is not something so |
| written goals earned ten times as much as the 97 | | | | banal as written goals. |
| percent who didn't have clear, written goals. If that | | | | Successful people have targets, and have ends |
| does convince you of the importance of written | | | | (goals) which they strive towards. There's something |
| goals what does? | | | | more important than goals. They have a passion for |
| Pretty impressive until you start to look more into | | | | what they are doing, and they are "in-love with" the |
| this study and ask a few questions. Why is it that | | | | ideal they are striving towards. |
| various motivational gurus tell different versions of | | | | Successful people do not need written goals to keep |
| the study. In some versions the study took place at | | | | them on track, just as if you are in-love with another |
| Yale. In some versions it took place in the mid-50s | | | | you don't need a written goal of spending time with |
| Search academic data bases, and you won't find the | | | | his or her beloved. Their actions and intentions |
| study. Apparently, there was no such study. It is a | | | | embody the goal. The desire for the goal is within |
| myth that writers and speakers continue to hand | | | | them. Written goals can serve as a way to |
| down as it were fact. The study just isn't true. It's | | | | communicate the ideal to others, but no reminder is |
| not enough to say as Tracy has been reported to | | | | needed. |
| say, "If it's not true it should be." | | | | Are written goals essential for success? No. Helpful? |
| This myth brings up are a number of nagging | | | | Possibly yes. Harmful? Probably not. The ability to |
| unanswered questions. As an avid reader of | | | | communicate your goals to others is important. In our |
| biographies and autobiographies I was curious about | | | | culture writing is one tool for clarifying our own ideas |
| the goals of famous people. I noted the conspicuous | | | | and communicating it to others. Goals and targets are |
| lack of written goals. If written goals are so | | | | important, but written goals are a weak substitute |
| important, where were the written goals of these | | | | for passion. If you need written reminders to keep |
| people whose lives impacted history? Where are the | | | | you on track for your goals, could it be your goals |
| written goals of Alexander the great, who by age 33 | | | | and your passions don't match? |