Want to achieve your goals? First, write them down.
We have a lot of tools at SIDECAR that we use to guide us on the path to affluence.
One of the main ones is the “Throttle,” that little booklet that we carry around with us every day. In it are key pieces of information and inspiration. And probably the most vital bit in the Throttle is our goals.
Why? Because you have to write down your goals. And you have to look at them at the beginning and end of every day.
Why? Because research tells us that people who write down their goals are much more likely to achieve them.
Now, we talk to a lot of people who say, “I know what my goals are. They’re in my head.”
Maybe that works.
But what we’ve learned is that the act of writing creates a connection in the brain that merely thinking about something does not.
For instance, when you were in school did you take notes? Of course you did. It was the writing that focused your brain on the most important parts of a lecture or book.
There’s a great summary of the research on why this works that you can read here.
If you have any doubt about whether writing down your goals and reviewing them daily is an effective tool, read the article. But here’s a summary of why it works:
- Highlights the importance of the goal to your brain, and that allows your mind to stay primed for opportunities that might help you achieve your aims.
- Ensures that you properly clarify each goal and that you understand it completely.
- Makes it possible for you to visualize your goals more clearly, especially if you combine the words with actual images and other sensory cues.
- Leaves no room for misunderstandings or errors at a later stage.
- Acts as a reminder of what your goals are, goals you can easily review along the way.
- Gives you the opportunity to cross your goals off the list as you achieve them.
We believe in this concept so deeply that it’s engrained in the SIDECAR Goal Achievement System. It starts with the “Throttle” and connects to the “FLOW Planner” and “Smart X.”
We’ll leave you with a statistic from a Harvard Business study that affirms this thinking.
- Eighty-three percent of respondents had no goals.
- Fourteen percent of respondents had plans but had not written them down. The study found that this group was ten times more likely to succeed than those without any goals.
- Three percent of respondents had written down their goals. They were three times more likely to succeed than the group who had some plan in mind.
Think about that. Writing down your goals makes you three times more likely to succeed.
Seems like a pretty good idea.
