According to Aristotle, action is caused by a purpose. So setting and defining purpose will get us into action to achieve this purpose. This is known as goal setting and anyone can set a goal. However, to achieve your objectives, your goals need strength and power, which will depend on how specific, achievable, challenging, measurable and inspirational your goals are. It should be like scoring a goal in football, where it is very clear what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. That is the way goals are supposed to be set.

Goals are usually set to increase performance and for this it is desirable for goals to be specific and difficult. The desired increase in performance is more likely to be achieved with difficult goals than it is with easily attainable goals. Also, vague goals get vague results, as they do not clearly define what you are trying to achieve. Hence instead of deciding, I will lose weight, your goal should be I will lose 2 kg. One should make sure that the goal is measurable. We usually know the starting point, but we should also clearly define an end point, where you will know you have achieved it. A strong and powerful goal must also be in sync with the overall picture of your life. It should set a direction for your life.

Writing down your goals helps you achieve them far more often. The act of writing gets the intention into the real world, where it will happen. It is much better if you can see your written goal more often. Pasting it on the bathroom mirror, sticking it on the study desk or even setting it up as wallpaper on your personal computer are some of the ways of giving your written goal highest visibility. The written goal should be brief and very easy to remember, as it has much more strength. Writing stories should be avoided.

Another important thing to be taken care of while setting a goal is there should be a certain time frame attached to it. The reason being, setting a goal without setting a date tends to get lost in time. Such a goal is never on our priority list and as a result, we lose motivation to achieve that goal. It just remains a dream, which may or may not come true. It becomes just something that is likely to happen in the distant future and someday you realize that the distant future is already past. Also, it is desirable to keep short time frames to achieve small, but regular success. This will help us to be continuously motivated for the task that lies ahead.

Apart from this, it is very important for the goal to be realistic. You may decide on something that sounds wonderful, but you should always see how achievable the goal is in practice. It may not only be unrealistic, but plain stupid to set a goal like losing 10 kg by the end of next week. Setting such a goal is dangerous, as it not only de-motivates you for not achieving your goal, but may also force you to push yourself far too much, with dire consequences.