Being able to describe your goals in written form gives you the best chance of goal success.  Writing down your goals helps you to clarify exactly what you want to achieve, which helps guide your daily actions towards goal achievement.

Written down goals are more powerful than goals you keep in your mind.  But, writing down your goals is the first step towards your goal achievement.  Achieving your goals takes courage, commitment, and motivation.  Taking the time to write down your goals in the morning and review them at night, ensures you make real progress towards your goals every day.

Writing down your goals forces you to get clear on what you want to accomplish.  Writing your goals down provides motivation and helps you to focus on the priorities that will help you achieve your goals faster and easier.

When you define your goals, you give yourself a destination to reach and a timeline to achieve the goal.  This ensures you narrow your focus and don’t get distracted and feel overwhelmed.

In this article, I’m going to share why a written goal is more powerful, what happens when you write down your goals, and the importance of writing down your goals.

To achieve your goals faster and easier, read my essential guide to setting goals.

What happens when you write down your goals 

You are more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down.  Writing down your goals helps you clarify what you want to achieve in the future, and ensures you are emotionally and intellectually engaged in achieving your goal.

Writing down your goals doesn’t need to take long, but should form an essential part of your daily planning.

Taking the time to write down your goals gets you clear on what you want to accomplish each day and builds motivation and momentum.  When you are crystal clear on your goals, you become emotionally engaged in goal achievement.

Writing down your goals helps you visualise the future you want and clarifies what it would feel like to achieve your goals.

If you write down your goals, you have a clear picture of where to invest your time and energy each day, which boosts confidence, motivation, and excitement.

Discover the importance of setting measurable goals. 

Why should you write your goals down?

Writing down your goals helps create a vision in your mind of how you want to be in the future.  You can visually see the goal and understand the difference it will make in your life.

When you see something you want to achieve, it creates change in how you act as you have clarity and direction.  You are more likely to be productive and creative if you can identify how the goal achievement will transform your life.

Discover the most important benefits of goal setting.

Why is a written goal more powerful?

Studies show that goal setters achieve their goals.  People who write down their goals are even more likely to have success getting to where they want to go.

There’s a brain-to-hand connection that comes into effect.  Writing down your goals plants the goal in your brain, and once it’s there, it sticks.

The importance of writing down your goals 

Here are 5 benefits of writing down your goals.

1. Get clear on what you want

Writing down your goals helps you get clear on what you want to achieve in life.  It takes your goals out of your mind and makes them visible and real.

When you write down your goals, you clarify your future.  If you’re not clear about what you want, or where you want to go, you’ll lack direction.  If you have no focus, it’s easy to get distracted and spend time on activities that aren’t important to you.

Writing down your goals narrows your focus and provides short-term motivation and excitement.  Written goals force you to choose specific, measurable goals that are important to you in the long-term and short-term.  Having this clarity helps you filter out things, activities, and people that  don’t support your goals.

Discover the importance of setting short-term goals.

2. Stay motivated

Writing down your goals, and making progress daily, helps you stay on track and feel motivated.  To stay motivated, it’s essential to set exciting goals and then take action to achieve them.

When writing down your goals, set goals that matter to you, and paint a picture of who you want to be in the future.  Making your goals measurable and time-bound helps you track progress. It also ensures you plot your progress towards achieving your goals.

Making progress on your goals boosts motivation and confidence.  It also helps you lay out the action steps needed to make further progress.  When your goals are exciting and motivating, you want to achieve your goals.

Struggling to stay motivated with your goals?  Get actionable tips to increase motivation.

3. Narrows your focus

4. Greater productivity

5. Measure progress

Even if the progress feels small, any improvement is progress towards your goals.  When you write down your goals and review progress daily or weekly, you will see how far you’ve come.

If you don’t, you may feel like you haven’t made any progress.  The next time you set goals for your business and life, the first place to start is to write them down.

Conclusion

Now I’d love to hear from you. 

What one difference could writing down your goals make?

What one tip on goal setting can you share that has helped you the most?

Leave a comment below and let us know.

Other goal setting articles 

SMART Criteria: How to set SMART goals 

How to achieve goals: 8 tips to help you achieve your goals 

4 steps to achieve your goals 

11 goal setting mistakes and how to fix them 

About Mark Pettit

Mark Pettit is a time management coach and accountability coach based in Colchester, Essex, UK.  He provides time management coaching programs and accountability coaching programs to business owners and entrepreneurs in the UK, US and Canada.

Mark also writes about time management, productivity and goal achievement.  Each month, over 24,000 people read Mark’s articles to help them manage their time better and achieve their goals faster.

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