What Are the Functions of Setting Goals?

To achieve happiness, set goals. A lack of goals leads to aimlessness, frustration, and depression. Stephen R. Covey, author of the best-selling book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," lists as his first habit, "Be Proactive," because life doesn't "just happen." You design what happens to you. And that is what goal-setting is all about, taking control of your life.

Prioritizing

• Anyone can feel overwhelmed, especially when there are numerous tasks to complete in a day. It can be difficult to decide what to work on first. You must prioritize.

  Having a goal will help unfreeze you. If you keep in mind what, whether it's short-term or long-term, you ultimately want to accomplish, you will soon see more clearly which tasks to address first. Having a goal helps you to prioritize and will add purpose to every action you perform. When you are able to prioritize effectively, you are able to accomplish more each day, while at the same time decreasing stress and leading a happier life.

Motivation

• Not every day is easy, and not every job or task is a delight. In life, you will have to do things that you do not want to do at a particular moment. But if you are able to visualize your goal, it will provide motivation to complete more of those unpleasant tasks, because you are imagining the payoff as you do it. This, again, will make you a more productive person. It will also make you a happier person, because you are less likely to be bitter when you are completing a task with an end in mind than when you are doing so because you feel that somebody else is forcing you to do it.

Accountability

• Another important part of goal-setting is that it allows you to recognize more easily when you are on the wrong path. It is important to set concrete goals, preferably with real deadlines. For instance, while it's important to set big goals like, "I want to be a movie star," it's also important to set intermediate, concrete goals such as, "I want to book three paid acting gigs in the next three months."

  If you fail to meet the intermediate goal, you know that you need to analyze your actions and figure out what adjustments to make in order to better reach the goal. This leads to continual self-improvement, which of course will allow you to accomplish more and set increasingly lofty goals.