I was having lunch with a friend the other day and she mentioned that someone she knows has been in college, working on a degree, for several years.  When my friend has a conversation with this person about when she’s going to finish, her friend says she’s not sure.  She may even stop altogether.  Immediately, my thought was she needs a goal.  How sad would it be if she still hasn’t finished in ten years because she never set a goal?

When we lack goals and timelines, we usually are not as committed to get things accomplished.  Something happens when you put a date to a task.  And something even greater happens when you write the goal down and tell someone.  Goals give us something to work towards and a way we can measure and track our progress.  For example, if my friend’s friend decides to finish her college degree in two years, she can map out a plan of how many classes to take each semester.  If she decides to finish in five years, she can map out a plan for that also.  If no end date is set, she is left to let her feelings and emotions drive her actions.

If you have a project you’ve been working on for a while and don’t seem to be making progress, see if you have set a clear goal with an end deadline.  If you’ve set a goal, have you set smaller tasks/assignments to ensure success?  If you’ve done that and are still not making progress, you may have gotten stuck or hit a wall and are in need of coaching or self-evaluation.

Take a moment and think about the projects on which you are currently working.  Have you set goals?  Do you have deadlines?  Are you making progress?  What do you need to do today to keep moving forward and reach the finish line?

**Check out more inspirational articles here: https://thewriteaddiction.com/transformative-thursdays/

~Coletta Jones Patterson

Coletta is an author, life coach, business executive and weekly blogger.  Connect with Coletta at info@moveu4ward.com.