Why Is It Important To Set Goals And How Does It Benefit You?

Let us look at the concept of goal setting from a student’s perspective. As a student myself, I feel goal setting is greatly beneficial because it allows me to keep persevering through extensive reflection and analysis.

If a student such as myself wishes to improve their grades or athletic prowess, they must first break down the challenge into multiple segments and stages.This helps the student tackle obstacles in manageable chunks and allows them to integrate different tactics and strategies in order to achieve what they have set their sights on.

Preparation and analysis along with setting goals allows the student to be accountable for their efforts, actions and eventually, their results. This allows the student to develop important skills such as time management and encourages them to develop critical thinking skills through self analysis and what’s more, the accountability built into goal setting encourages you to look back over trials and tribulations, evaluating areas where you need to improve. In a growth mindset, you adopt the belief that you can learn and improve, and not just rest on inborn abilities and talents.

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As such, goal setting pushes you to tackle challenges directly to produce better chances of overall success. Without goals, students subject themselves to a default or natural set of actions that are there to keep them feeling safe and comfortable, without offering any opportunity for growth. In other words, goals allow students to tap into their inner potential by giving them targets to strive toward. These targets help them venture into new situations, contexts, and challenges that place them in the right position for growth and development.

Now, let’s move to the application of the above tactics through example, and real practice. Preparing for exams is something we all do many times in our lives, everyone wants to drive for that A plus, but few actually get it, because these students fight tooth and nail for it, they know exactly what they want, and they'll move Heaven and Earth to get it. Having the drive to prepare and succeed and unwavering determination to be the best, studying tirelessly, working day and night, reading, reviewing, practising, solving, and all for what? To gain something that not many people can say they have obtained, true happiness and that feeling of self worth and pride you get when you tell yourself, “you did good”. Goal setting teaches you that having the utmost will to improve and the desire to succeed is an incredibly valuable mindset when it comes to facing adversity.

Let's now focus on a more recent example of the dividends that goal setting provides. On June 13, 2023, the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association won their first championship in the history of their franchise. How is this relevant? Because the Nuggets are an extremely goal oriented franchise, they may not appear in the media as often as some other big brand teams such as the Lakers or Celtics, but that is because of their unrelenting analysis of what went wrong in past years, and what they did right this year. Analysis as in changes in coaching staff, regrouping of the starting lineup, drawing plays for each and every player's strengths as well as studying film to work on their weaknesses, all in unison to achieve one goal, to win a championship and to be the best they can possibly be. You could compare this to the recently concluded World Test Championship final between Australia and India. With what the fans of the game saw, it was clearly evident that the Indian team as a unit were not able to overcome the obstacles. They struggled in all departments from batting, bowling to fieldling.

Setting goals for yourself is no longer one of the cliche things one might say to themselves, to console their emotions following failure. It is real, goals help align your focus and promote a sense of self-mastery. In the end, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and you can’t improve upon something that you don’t properly manage. Setting goals can help you do all of that and more. Setting goals not only motivates you, but can also improve your mental health and level of personal and professional success. When one has achieved mastery in their capabilities and understanding them as well as understood their limits and motivation, this self realisation will make them unstoppable.

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