Someone recently posed the question to me - "Do my goals need to be written down?" My answer was, "If writing something down is a way to help remind you, then do it."

You fail to reach your goals for several reasons. One of those reasons is a lack of focus. Without focus, you tend to put off the most appropriate actions necessary to move forward, while engaging in activities that are least likely to get you results.

Today focus is perhaps more important than ever!

In this age of information overload, you are bombarded with more priorities, ideas, perspectives, and one more expert's way of doing things, than ever before. This represents a lot of bunny trails to travel, and makes achieving your goals more complicated. For most, this is a daunting challenge.

Just how distracted are you?
Let's say your goal is to build a brick barbeque pit during the weekend. Come Saturday morning, you run the risk of becoming distracted by dabbling in the garden, doing the laundry, cleaning the pool, opening the mail, reading the newspaper, watching football and mowing the lawn. As a result, you're not likely to get the barbeque built. You can also apply this scenario to running your business and working your job, where distractions are present every day.

So how do you stay focused?
Although focus becomes more difficult when you have more responsibilities, duties and priorities, one way of focusing is not necessarily the right way for everyone. For some people focus comes easily, and distractions are not a problem. For others, writing down goals with specific action steps, such as building the barbeque in sections, may be the answer. Do what works best for you!

If writing down your goals helps you reach them, by all means write them down. Having that reminder and focal point can be a valuable tool in keeping you on track. It's also a way to share your goals with others when you need their support, or when your goals are team-oriented.

We all enjoy that feeling we get from accomplishing something. When it comes to that sense of satisfaction, focus on giving yourself what you need, in order to make it happen.