5 Reasons to Write Goals Down

Most of my early life I hated writing things down.  I fought hard to avoid any kind of writing.  It is humorous that now I wish I had more time to write things down.  I enjoy writing now.  As I get older I realize more and more how important it is to write things down.

One of the most important things you can write down are your goals.  In previous posts, I have told you the areas of life to set goals and I told you how to make them SMART goals.  In this post, I want to give you 5 reasons why I write down my goals.

1. So I do not forget them.  I make sure to carry a pen and piece of paper with me everywhere I go.  I do this largely because I never know when I might get an idea that I don’t want to forget.  I am sure to write it down and keep it with me until I get to my moleskine notebook to properly record it.
2. To make them real.  Until I write something down, it is just an idea.  It has no substance.  It has no plan.  Once I write it down, I can start working on a process to make it happen.
3. To make myself believe it.  I spoke to a great artist the other day about her plan to start a new business.  I told her that I thought it was a great idea.  One of the issues she had been that she didn’t really think that she was great artist.  It seems like this is a common occurrence.  People take for granted the things that they are good at, because that is just what they do.  By writing a goal down, I can let it start sinking into my head that it is possible, and I am good enough.
4. To see progress.  By writing my goals down I can see not only where I am going but where I have come from.  I can see things on my list that I have accomplished.  I can know that I am, in fact, making progress.
5. To make it worth fighting for.  If I believe in something enough to write it down, I am a lot more likely to fight through resistance to accomplish it.  It is easy to quit these days.  It is easy to come up with excuses to stop pursuing goals.  Fighting for something is not easy.  Writing it down contributes to the conviction in me to stay strong in my pursuit.

Some of the goals in my life that I have accomplished are:  marrying a good Christian woman, having children, seeing my children saved, owning a home, and to lose 60 pounds.  I trust that if you too write your goals down, it will help.

Do you write your goals down?  What are some additional reasons why you do so?