50 Quotes About Setting Goals To Get Motivated And Inspired

Goals give meaning to life. They are meant to continually challenge you to put your talent, skills, creativity, time, resources, and opportunities towards achieving some tangible results for yourself, family, work, and your immediate environment. Reading quotes about setting goals can help to shape your thoughts and broaden your understanding of goals as you gain access to the thoughts of great minds—people who have mastered the art of goal setting and have become remarkably successful.

Quotes will also help you to rethink your goals and put them in the proper perspective. By reading quotes about goals, you will find inspiration and motivation to set and achieve your own goals^[1].

Below are 50 quotes about setting goals that will give you the needed clarity and push to set and achieve your goals.

Quotes About Setting Goals

There are different things to take into consideration when setting your goals. First, you have to think about what you really want in life, both in the short term and long term.

You also have to set goals that are inspiring and motivating. The following quotes will give you an idea of what you should know about goals and the kinds of goals you can set to make your life better.

“It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach.” — Benjamin E. Mays

“People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals—that is, goals that do not inspire them.” — Tony Robbins

“Becoming a star may not be your destiny, but being the best you can be is a goal that you can set for yourself.” — Brian Lindsay

“Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.” — Robert H. Schuller

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C. S. Lewis

“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.” — Seneca

“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them.” — Og Mandino

“In life, the first thing you must do is decide what you really want. Weigh the costs and the results. Are the results worthy of the costs? Then make up your mind completely and go after your goal with all your might.” — Alfred A. Montapert

“This one step—choosing a goal and sticking to it—changes everything.” — Scott Reed

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” — Tony Robbins

“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.” — Walt Disney

“Goal setting is the secret to a compelling future.” — Tony Robbins

“The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run. It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact… those people have goals.” — Seth Godin

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” — Albert Einstein

“If you’re bored with life—you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things—you don’t have enough goals.” — Lou Holtz

“In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.” — Author Unknown

“Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.” — Brian Tracy

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” ― Louisa May Alcott

“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.” — Kenichi Ohma

“Goals must never be from your ego, but problems that cry for a solution.” — Robert H. Schuller

“We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, April 2, 1957

Quotes About Making Your Goals S.M.A.R.T

Achieving your goals depends a great deal on how you set them. It is a general rule in goal setting that goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, and Time-related.

When you take the above criteria into consideration in setting your goals, you make a framework that will make your goals work. Here are some quotes that will inspire you to make your goals S.M.A.R.T.

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” — Zig Ziglar

“Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.” — Stephen Covey

“Begin with the end in mind.” — Stephen Covey

“Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent return on energy!” — Brian Tracy

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” — Pablo Picasso

“Goals are dreams with deadlines.” — Anonymous

Quotes About Lofty Goals

Goal setting can appear to be some form of fantasy when you realize that you are setting goals that are way beyond your current status, abilities, or resources. However, experts say that the lofty goals really are the kinds of goals that you should set.

When you have big dreams, you don’t have to get scared or get carried away; you only have to create the roadmap that will lead you to your goal. The following quotes will show you how to dream big and how to turn your big dreams into reality.

“You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential.” — Steve Garvey

“One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.” — Michael Korda

“You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for.” — Ted Turner

“If we have a goal and a plan, and are willing to take risks and mistakes and work as a team, we can choose to do the hard thing.” — Scott Kelly

“I would encourage you to set really high goals. Set goals that, when you set them, you think they’re impossible. But then every day you can work towards them, and anything is possible, so keep working hard and follow your dreams.” — Katie Ledecky

“I have short goals—to get better every day, to help my teammates every day—but my only ultimate goal is to win an NBA championship. It’s all that matters. I dream about it. I dream about it all the time, how it would look, how it would feel. It would be so amazing.” — LeBron James

“Most ‘impossible’ goals can be met simply by breaking them down into bite-size chunks, writing them down, believing them, and then going full speed ahead as if they were routine.” — Don Lancaster

“Though we may have desires or bold goals, for whatever reason, most of us don’t think we can achieve something beyond what we’re qualified to achieve. Why, I ask, do we let reality interfere with our dreams?” — Simon Sinek

“Don’t be a time manager, be a priority manager. Cut your major goals into bite-sized pieces. Each small priority or requirement on the way to ultimate goal becomes a mini goal in itself.” — Denis Waitley

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ― Henry David Thoreau

“Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” — Muhammad Ali

“The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.” — Michelle Obama

“Set a goal so big that you can’t achieve it until you grow into the kind of person who can.” — Anonymous

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” — Michelangelo

Quotes About Achieving Your Goals

From the moment you set your goals, obstacles will begin to arise to make your goals unachievable. However, with motivation, determination and the right set of skills, you can maneuver any situation that might come along the path of achieving your goals.

Here are some insights on what you should expect and how you can always achieve your goals despite obstacles.

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” —Confucius

“Your ability to communicate is an important tool in your pursuit of your goals, whether it is with your family, your co-workers or your clients and customers.” — Les Brown

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” — Zig Ziglar

“Write your goals down in detail and read your list of goals every day. Some goals may entail a list of shorter goals. Losing a lot of weight, for example, should include mini-goals, such as 10-pound milestones. This will keep your subconscious mind focused on what you want step by step.” — Jack Canfield

“Every day you spend drifting away from your goals is a waste not only of that day, but also of the additional day it takes to regain lost ground.” — Ralph Marston

“If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.” —Brian Tracy

“Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal.” — Brian Adams

Final Thoughts

When your goals become your compass in life, you will never find yourself in a direction that you do not intend for yourself. When you pursue your goals with vigor, you will find that there is nothing you aim for in life that will not come within your reach.

It may take longer than you have planned and might not come in the exact shape, size, or magnitude that you intended, but you will definitely make great progress and experience more success than you ever imagined.

Featured photo credit: Ethan Sykes via unsplash.com