Chapter 5: Goals: Setting Them and Reaching Them

It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is a sin.

—Dr. Benjamin E. Mayes,
president, Morehouse University

What Are Goats?

The most glorious part of having a goal is the journey toward it. It's the ability to go after something, get knocked down, come back up, struggle, strive, move forward, accomplish one goal—and then go beyond it. Getting to the goal is only part of the reward; the rest comes from what you've learned and how you've grown along the way.

It's been said that when the astronauts who went to the moon came back to Earth, they suffered from anxiety, depression, and other emotional problems. Why? Because they spent years preparing for their mission—and what do you do after you've gone to the moon? They had reached their ultimate goal and no longer had anything to strive toward. It's a lesson to remember: No objective is so great that it is the be-all and the end-all. We must always be setting the bar a little higher, reaching for another goal.

Goals can be defined in many ways. There are dozens of synonyms for the word: target, purpose, objective, destination, intent, aim. Dreams and wishes become reality when we set goals for ourselves. The great motivator Napolean Hill said that "a goal is a dream with a deadline." Goals give us direction and focus. They make the impossible achievable. They help us keep our vision clear and our footing steady. A goal accomplished is not just another step toward a destination; it's a building block in the foundation of our self-esteem.