Are You Still Not Setting Goals Scientists Explain Why You Should

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers Are You Still Not Setting Goals? Scientists Explain Why You Should I still know a number of you who are not setting goals. I am hopeful that if you read what scientists have written, it might give you an idea of why setting goals is important and how to do it. Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, both professors, have summarized 35 years of empirical research on goal-setting theory in a professional paper titled: Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation. Here is what they found: How do goals affect performance? For me, setting goals always helped me set priorities on my non-billable time. Locke and Latham recognize this function of goals. They say: “…they direct attention and effort toward goal-relevant activities and away form goal-irrelevant activities.” As illustrated in the scientific research, the problem many people have is setting their goals too low. I like what Evertt Bogue  recently wrote How to Succeed by Being Completely Unrealistic. Check out his list of 13 ways to start thinking. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.