Get it in Writing

There is something very significant and almost magical that happens in our society when we put something in writing.  We may have thoughts or ideas and even enter into conversations with others about details, terms, and conditions, but once we put something in writing we are committed to it and expect others to be committed as well.  This is not only true of commitments we make to others, but it holds true for commitments we make to ourselves.

 In a recent study of graduate students, surveys reveal that 84% of them had no specific life goals.  This is very sad, as graduate students are highly educated and often the best and brightest among us.  This same survey revealed that 13% of these same graduate students had goals in mind, but had not gotten very specific about them.  But 3% of the graduate students surveyed had specific written goals.

 After these students left the university and pursued their various professions for a period of time, it was revealed that the 13% who had a goal in mind accomplished more collectively than the 84% of those surveyed who had no goals at all.  While this is a significant result, it’s even more staggering to note that the 3% who had written goals accomplished more than the remaining 97% of their classmates combined.  Anytime a group of people can out-perform others within their demographic group more than 30 fold, you have to pay attention to the results and the underlying causes.

 As a blind person myself, it might surprise you to learn that I write my goals down even though I can’t read what I’ve written.  The simple act of writing a goal down makes the objective real and concrete in my mind.  Checks, mortgages, and contracts are all written documents requiring a signature, and they have both a perceived and a real value in our society.  In addition to simply writing a goal down, I always date and sign the page.  A goal is a dream with a date on it, and a commitment is an intention that has been signed. 

 Most shoppers won’t go to the grocery store without a list of things they want to buy.  This keeps them from wasting time and energy on a second trip to the store.  How much more should we put into writing our life goals and objectives?

 As you go through your day today, determine what you want to accomplish and write it down.

 Today’s the day!