Whatever you do in your life, everyone, and I do mean everyone, will benefit from setting goals. I spent the best part of six years of my career in professional sport ignoring goal-setting exercises but in the years since, they have played an important part in my life on and off the field.

99% of us want to ‘do something’ in life. You may want to develop a relationship or run your own business, perhaps become the best sales person in your company or reach a certain level of financial reward, but whatever it is, this is your goal. Everything and anything can be reached far easier by setting out your goals on paper and understanding that you need to work hard to get there. Too many of us think things in life should be and are easy, giving up at the first sign of things getting tough. The process of goal-setting should help when things do get hard though as they help you re-focus and mean you learn from errors or mistakes. However, the most important thing I have learnt is that your goals have to be the most important thing for YOU. If it isn’t then don’t bother making it your goal; as soon as things get tough you will give up on it.

When sitting down to plan your goals, think about what you want to achieve in your life from several different perspectives. What would you like to achieve in your career ? Are there things that you want to change in terms of your attitude ? What are your physical goals ? What would you like to achieve in relation to your family and friends ? Make them challenging but don’t be unrealistic – this can have detrimental effects. Write down your long term goals and then the short term which will form the path to achievement.

Long term goals should be broken down into smaller, more manageable steps so that there is a constant progression towards your target. As you complete these smaller steps, feel a sense of achievement in moving along the road to your end goal. This will develop your confidence and re-inforces your commitment to your target.

Steve Black coached me for several years here in Newcastle and he used to push us to follow the idea of the ’24 hour video’. Make sure that everything you do, every day, is the best you can do, making sure that if you watched the video back at the end of the day, you would be proud of what you were watching. I still think along these lines now and I think it can be a real help to people trying to achieve in life. By clearly focussing and doing the best you can do every day, you have a far better chance of reaching your short and long term goals. Businesses will benefit from employees achieving objectives more efficiently and effectively and individuals will then see the rewards that follow on.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying to set out your goals. If you really think hard about what it is you want to achieve and then set out how you are going to get there your life will become more rewarding. When my career first started I was enjoying playing rugby and getting paid for it to concern myself with setting goals but for the last three or four years since I decided to make a concious effort, I feel like I have a more fulfilled life in which I achieve far more of the things I want to – why not give it a try yourself…….