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Why we all need to set goals.

Go back a couple of generations and there was far less need to set goals.

Our grandfathers often worked for the same company from the day they left school to the time they retired.

Whether working on assembly lines, in offices or out on the farm, they had very little need to set goals, because their employers took care of their progress within the company.

Today, we and our children face a very different future. We can look forward to changing jobs every few years, whether we want to or not. We'll probably change industries or careers two or three times in our lifetimes as well.

So what about our goals in life?

Nobody is watching out for us now. If you don’t establish your own goals, you're going to be drifting from one job to another. You'll simply accept the first attractive offer, regardless of the direction in which it might take you.

The need to set goals is even more urgent for freelancers.

When you work for a company, even if you are there only for a few years, you'll find that your group or department has its own goals.

As an employee, while a company will no longer provide you with goals for life, it will provide you with goals for the period you are working there.

But if you work from home as a freelancer, you'll have no goals at all, of any kind, unless you set them yourself.

Why setting goals makes a difference...

Look at it this way. If you're a freelancer without goals, you're just drifting, going with the flow and hoping that you'll pick up enough work next month to pay the bills. You have no real direction in mind. You'll just go where the work is.

The day you set some goals and start working towards them is the day you strap on a 200 horsepower engine and stop drifting. You know where you are going, you set your course and you fire up your engine.

It's a powerful difference.

So why are so many freelancers "drifters"?

In most cases freelancers have simply not been exposed to the concept of goal-setting. Or, if they have thought about it, they haven't learned how to do it.

Goal-setting is a formal, deliberate process. You have to think hard and make sure you are setting a goal that is right for you. You have to do a lot of planning and set yourself some milestones along the way. You have to work hard and review your progress on a regular basis.

Yes, it involves work. And maybe that's what turns some people off the idea.

But here's a little nugget from a famous study conducted by Harvard Business School – ten years after entering the job market, graduates who had written down their goals were earning, on average, ten times more than those who hadn't.

If you're not setting goals right now, you should at least learn about the process. There are plenty of good books on the subject.

Or, of you would prefer a guide that is written specifically for freelance writers and copywriters, consider my own guide at http://www.goalsettingrituals.com/

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