We fall into the same trap year after year. We make a promise to ourselves to exercise, lose weight, get organized, learn something new, or get our finances in order. By the start of February, however, 80% of all New Year’s resolutions fail.
How come? Well, resolutions rarely involve concrete steps to follow and keep us motivated. What’s more, the majority of resolutions are centered around peer pressure and arbitrary dates.
Instead of making the same mistake next year, and beyond, you shouldn’t make resolutions. Rather, you should be looking at setting and reaching your goals. And, the help you get started and stay focused on these goals, here are 101 quotes you should refer to when needed.
Quotes About Setting and Starting Goals
1. “If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.” — Les Brown
2. “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
3. “You need a plan to build a house. To build a life, it is even more important to have a plan or goal.” — Zig Ziglar
4. “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
5. “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” — Tony Robbins
6. “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” — Andrew Carnegie
7. “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” — Tom Landry
8. “Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.” — Robert H. Schuller
9. “Setting goals allows you to paint a vision of what you wish your future to be.” — Catherine Pulsifer
10. “You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for.” — Ted Turner
11. “All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.” — Orison Swett Marden
12. “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
13. “Goal setting is a powerful tool and process for motivating you. When effective goals are set, a giant step towards the life you desire is taken.” — K.C. Rowntree
14. “Set realistic goals, keep re-evaluating, and be consistent.” — Venus Williams
15. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C. S. Lewis
16. “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” — James Cameron
17. “To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.” — Seneca
18. “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
19. “No desired achievement is gained without any goal setting.”– Wayne Chirisa
20. “The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them.” — Og Mandino
21. “By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.” — Mark Victor Hansen
22. “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
23. “In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.” — Unknown
24. “You can do anything if you set goals. You just have to push yourself.” — RJ Mitte
25. “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
26. “Don’t look at the big picture as the only achievement. Start with set, smart goals and work up to something bigger.” — Jordyn Wieber
27. “Begin with the end in mind.” — Stephen Covey
28. “One part at a time, one day at a time, we can accomplish any goal we set for ourselves.” — Karen Casey
29. “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
30. “Focus on the possibilities for success, not the potential for failure.” — Napoleon Hill
31. “Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent return on energy!” — Brian Tracy
32. “Set daily, monthly, and long-term goals and dreams. Don’t ever be afraid to dream too big. Nothing is impossible. If you believe in yourself, you can achieve it.” — Nastia Liukin
33. “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
34. “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal. Not to people or things.” — Albert Einstein
35. “A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.” — George S. Reid
36. “Goals are the road maps that guide you to your destination.”-– Roy T. Bennett
37. “When you set a goal, your brain opens up a task list.” — Mel Robbins
38. “A good goal is like a strenuous exercise — it makes you stretch.” — Mary Kay Ash
39. “The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” — Denis Waitley
40. “Set goals and seek challenges; Become a role model for those coming behind you.” — Charles F. Bolden
41. “For most of us, goal-setting sounds and usually is a grueling process, because we most often confuse a goal with a wish, an objective with a desire.” — Michael Lombardi
42. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” — Arthur Ashe
43. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” — Mark Twain
44. “The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” — Bill Copeland
45. “When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific.” — Lily Tomlin
46. “If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life that you want, you’re going to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want.” — Kevin Ngo
47. “Wish it. Plan it. Do it.” — Jaipal Singh
48. “You know that one thing you’ve always dreamed about? Write it down. Then take the first step. Today.” — Petra Poje
49. “The best way to approach a goal is to first break it down into very small bite size steps. Each one of these steps should lead logically to the next step to be completed in a linear order.” — Byron Pulsifer
50. “Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.” — Stephen Covey
Quotes About Ambitious Goals
51. “Most impossible goals can be met simply by breaking them down into bite-size chunks, writing them down, believing them and going full speed ahead as if they were routine.” — Don Lancaster
52. “This year I will achieve my most important goal by breaking it down into 365 tiny chunks and tackling on chunk each day.” — Marelisa Fabrega
53. “One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.” — Michael Korda
54. “I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.” — Michael Phelps
55. “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” — Bruce Lee
56. “By having big goals and pushing yourself towards them you will have a lot more energy because you know exactly what your doing and what you’re doing it for.” — Troy Foster
57. “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
58. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs
59. “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
60. “Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself.” — F. Hawes
61. “Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.” — Bo Jackson
62. “When you’re trying to accomplish lofty goals, and when you’re attacking something of great magnitude, you have to have help.” — Zach Johnson
63. “Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”– Harriet Tubman
64. “Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your. Dream deep, for every dream, precedes the goal.” — Rabindranath Tagore
65. “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
66. “Don’t let anyone turn your sky into a ceiling.”– Anonymous
67. “Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.”– David Joseph Schwartz
68. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” — John D. Rockefeller
69. “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs–even though checkered by failure–than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt
70. “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small.” — Richard Branson
71. “It is very hard to fail completely if you aim high enough.” — Larry Page
72. “Limitations only exist if you believe they exist. No one ever achieves more than they set their goals at, so aim high.” — Unknown
73. “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain
74. “Once you have tasted the taste of sky you will forever lookup.” — Leonardo Da Vinci
75. “Set a goal so big that you can’t achieve it until you grow into the kind of person who can.” — Anonymous
Motivational Quotes to Help You Crush Your Goals
76. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela
77. “Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.” — John Dewey
78. “The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.” — Michelle Obama
79. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, I’ll always get up after I fall. And whether I run, walk, or have to crawl, I’ll set my goals and achieve them all.” — Chris Butler
80. The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
81. “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” — Confucius
82. “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
83. “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
84. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.” — Michael Jordan
85. “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
86. “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
87. “If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.” — Brian Tracy
88. “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.” — Earl Nightingale
89. “Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal.” — Brian Adams
90. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”– Henry David Thoreau
91. “There’s nothing better than achieving your goals, whatever they might be.” — Paloma Faith
92. “If a goal is worth having, it’s worth blocking out the time in your day-to-day life necessary to achieve it.” — Jill Koenig
93. “Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.” — LL Cool J
94. “Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.” — Robert H. Schuller
95. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. — Sir Edmund Hilary
96. “It’s harder to stay on top than it is to make the climb. Continue to seek new goals.” — Pat Summitt
97. “Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.” — George Whitefield
98. “Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” — Paulo Coelho
99. It’s not about getting out of your comfort zone to reach your goal. It’s about widening your comfort zone so far that your goal fits comfortably inside. Once you do that, hitting your goals will be like hitting 3s for Steph Curry. — Richie Norton
100. “Dream your own dreams, achieve your own goals. Your journey is your own and unique.” — Roy T. Bennett
101. “This one step: choosing a goal and sticking to it, changes everything.” — Scott Reed
Image Credit: Engin Akyurt; Pexels, Thank you!
101 Inspiring Quotes About Reaching Your Goals was originally published on Calendar by Deanna Ritchie.
