87 motivational quotes about setting and achieving goals + free cards

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On this page, I’ve put together a collection of the best 87 goal setting quotes grouped into different categories. You can share them with your family or friends. To further boost your motivation, I have created cards with inspirational quotations that you can download for free. Enjoy!

goal setting quotes

Inspirational goal quotes from famous or successful people 

Determine the objectives first 

When you determine objectives for yourself, it is important that they motivate you. Make sure that there is value in achieving them and that they are important to you.

Positively formulated goals are easier to achieve than negatively formulated ones. In addition, the reward effect is greater. For example, if you intend to learn a new language, the wording might be: “Learn to speak German well” instead of “Stop making mistakes with German grammar”.

It helps a lot when you visualize your “reason behind. Why do you want to achieve this objective? What do you get out of it? And the most important question –  is it really your own aspiration or do you feel compelled by others to achieve it.

Your objective should always come from your heart.

determine objective first quote
“In whatever position you find yourself determine first your objective.”
Ferdinand Foch

“We advance on our journey only when we face our goal when we are confident and believe we are going to win out.”
Orison Swett Marden

“You, too, can determine what you want. You can decide on your major objectives, targets, aims, and destination.”
Clement Stone

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

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

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

'Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.' Kenichi OhmaClick To Tweet

“The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it.”
Jim Rohn

“In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”
Robert Heinlein

“Start from wherever you are and with whatever you’ve got.”
Jim Rohn

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

Further Reading: 91 habit quotes about change to inspire and nourish your mind

Write it down! 

It is important that you write down in detail your wishes and objectives. Several scientific studies prove that people with written objectives achieve more in life.

write down goals
“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.”
Brian Tracy

Here is a similar one:

'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 HansenClick To Tweet

Have you ever thought about how to formulate your objectives?

Do you have a written idea formulated in a way that it is clear about if and when you want to have achieved them? Or are those aspirations vague? For example, you want to eat healthier. Yes, this is a nice wish that we all desire but is it a concretely defined goal?

You could use a notebook, for example, and jot down your resolutions in the context of clean eating at the beginning of each year. Although it is important to write down your aims, that doesn’t suffice.

The more often you visualize your dreams, the more they prime your subconscious mind. If you want, you can print out my sheet, fill it out and hang it on a prominent place where you can see it each day:

Click here and download the cheat sheets for FREE!

Prioritize, plan and commit

Once you know where you want to go, you should make a precise plan of how you want to achieve it. Divide large tasks into small steps. It should be as specific as possible, yet easy to implement. Your first steps are particularly important. Write them down as detailed as possible.

The better you describe it, the easier it will be for you to take action.

break down goals
“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

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”
Peter F. Drucker

“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”
Robert H. Schuller

'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 PicassoClick To Tweet

“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

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

“The achievement of your goal is assured the moment you commit yourself to it.”
Mack R. Douglas

Act

You will seldom achieve bigger things than those that you intended and dared to do. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe other famous people sum it up perfectly with achieving goals quotes.

goal quote goethe
“No one knows how far his strengths go until he has tried them.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“You can’t hit a home run unless you step up to the plate. You can’t catch a fish unless you put your line in the water.”
Kathy Seligman

“Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.”
Tim Blixseth

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.' Johann Wolfgang von GoetheClick To Tweet

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”
Gail Devers

Self-discipline!

Scientists have long recognized that discipline is a particularly important success factor. It is not talent, intelligence or education that drives success, but discipline. The good news is that although self-discipline is challenging, it can be learned.

quote about goal setting
“To unlock and unleash your full potential, you should make a habit of daily goal setting and achieving for the rest of your life.”
Brian Tracey

“The ultimate goal should be doing your best and enjoying it.”
Peggy Fleming

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
Jim Rohn

“Goal achievement is hero’s work.”
Earnie Larsen

'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. MontapertClick To Tweet

“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

“If I’ve got correct goals, and if I keep pursuing them the best way I know how, everything else falls into line.”
Dan Dierdorf

Dedication and Success 

As hard as it is, try to be absolutely focused as long as you execute your plan. It takes a lot of self-discipline and self-organization, but the thing is essential. Don’t let your thoughts wander how other people think about you, or whether they think you will fail.
Maintain your planning, focus on your tasks and work consciously on it.

didication quote
“The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.”
Cecil B. DeMille

“I think one key part of doing more with less is to be more strategic, to realize what the objectives you’re truly trying to accomplish are and then to drive with a greater focus towards those objectives.”
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey

“Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”
Viktor Frankl

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
Louis Pasteur

'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 Click To Tweet

“There is never just one thing that leads to success for anyone. I feel it always a combination of passion, dedication, hard work, and being in the right place at the right time.”
Lauren Conrad

“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

“All sport… is one of the few activities where young people can proceed along traditional avenues, where objectives are clear, where the desire to win is not only permissible but encouraged.”
Spiro T. Agnew

Let’s face it: fitness is boring. But it’s critical to be extremely dedicated to whatever you decide to take up to achieve a desired result. There’s no way you are going to get there without dedication, which is the key for me.
Harbhajan Singh

Further Reading: 45 procrastination quotes to boost your productivity

Let others help you

This aspect is very often underestimated. Be proactive in finding people who share the same aspirations. If, for example, you want to lose weight, then find someone who also wants to lose weight and join forces. Forming such a group is a win-win situation. Both support and motivate each other.

I’m pretty sure you’d go to the gym more often if you had a partner or friend with you. It would be perfect to get in contact with people who have gone this path before. These could be your role models. Listen to them very carefully. They have certainly learned many important lessons. Take advantage of their experience.

ask for support
“Intentional relationships make us more productive, creative, and useful than we can be on our own.”
 Michael Hyatt

“Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.”
Misty Copeland

“You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success – or are they holding you back”
Clement Stone

'Choose to focus your time, energy and conversation around people who inspire you, support you and help you to grow you into your happiest, strongest, wisest self.' Karen SalmansohnClick To Tweet

“Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen.”
Pete Carroll

“All that I have achieved has been possible not only because of my own strength and perseverance, gained through hardship but also through other people’s support and believe in me.”
Clemantine Wamariya

Further Reading: 78 cute love quotes for her and him

Obstacles, setbacks, and failures 

Even with good planning, not everything will always run smoothly.  A perfect plan doesn’t exist. Whether you are faced with unforeseen obstacles or gain new insights. A certain degree of flexibility is necessary to reach your objective. It is important that you can adapt your planning according to the circumstances. This is no problem at all as long as you are flexible. Should you ever end up in a dead end, turn around and take another path. Do not view these little setbacks as personal failures, they happen to everyone.

Ask yourself: “What alternatives do I have to reach my objective? A setback is therefore not a sign of failure, but feedback that the path must be adapted.

setback and failure quote
“Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.”
Robert Kiyosaki

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”
Hannah More

“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”
Napoleon Hill

“Failures come only when we forget our ideals, objectives, and principles.”
Jawaharlal Nehru

“If you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”
Source unknown

'Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving.' Dennis Waitley (as quoted in Brian Tracy's book, Eat That Frog)Click To Tweet

“You cannot change your decision overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.”
Jim Rohn

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

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
Colin Powell

Further Reading: 88 learning quotes and education sayings to become a lifelong learner

Aim beyond! 

Most people don’t have huge success in life because they don’t set big goals. Let’s pretend you are setting an ambitious objective and you achieve it. Isn’t this a wonderful feeling? You know then that it works. But then maybe you ask yourself what would have happened if you would have set an even bigger objective, could you have achieved it too?

Why don’t we set more ambitious goals? Is it the fear that we can’t achieve it? If you don’t set larger objectives because you fear to fail, then you’ve already failed yourself. Because…

goal setting quote Michelangelo
“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

“A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not too much above his last achievement.”
Kurt Lewin

“We aim above the mark to hit the mark.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

'My goal is simple. It is the complete understanding of the Universe.' Stephen William HawkingClick To Tweet

“Your goal should be just out of reach, but not out of sight.”
Dennis Waitley and Remi Witt

Business and leadership 

In the following, you find some of the best quotes in the context of leadership.

leadership quote
“Leadership means forming a team and working toward common objectives that are tied to time, metrics, and resources.”
Russel Honore

“By providing clear objectives for your team, and setting guardrails for how they get there, you will set them on the path to success.”
Chris Fussell

“When you delegate work to the member of the team, your job is to clearly frame success and describe the objectives.”
Steven Sinofsky

“A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.”
Ralph Lauren

A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.
David Gergen

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
General George Patton

'Great leaders help their people see how they can directly impact the company's objectives and their own personal goals.' Chip ConleyClick To Tweet

“Define your business goals clearly so that others can see them as you do.”
George F. Burns

“Leadership is working with goals and vision; management is working with objectives.”
Russel Honore

The leader has to be practical and a realist yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.
Eric Hoffer

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
Warren Bennis

Further reading: 10 ways a motto in life can help you achieve your goals

Dream and visualize the end result daily

This is a very powerful tool that you should use to achieve your objectives. When you visualize and are fully in the situation with all your senses, then your subconscious thinks that you are actually experiencing this situation right now.

What does this mean for you? It simply increases your self-confidence. That’s why you should dream your goals every morning. Try it out. You will be amazed.

a goal is a dream
“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”
Napoleon Hill

“The more you dream the more you achieve.”
– Michael Phelps

“Reach high, for the stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream, precedes the goal.”
Pamela Vaull Starr

“Think and feel yourself there! To achieve any aim in life, you need to project the end-result.”
Grace Speare

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them A desire, a dream, a vision.”
Muhammad Ali

“Vision – It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own.”
Robert Collier

'Clarity of vision is the key to achieving your objectives.' Tom SteyerClick To Tweet

“If our actions stem from honesty, kindness, caring, and vision, then no matter what the result of our efforts, we have added something of value to our souls and to the world.”
Joan Boysenko, Pocketful of Miracles

“In all things that you do, consider the end.”
Solon

“A vision without action is called a daydream; but then again, action without a vision is called a nightmare.”
Jim Sorensen

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Proverbs 29:18

“The wisest keeps something of the vision of a child. Though he may understand a thousand things that a child could not understand, he is always a beginner, close to the original meaning of life.”
John Macy

Further Reading: 39 positive attitude quotes to stop negative thoughts

Happiness is a by-product 

Happiness is not something you achieve, but the by-product of a meaningful life. To do what suits you, to connect with other people, and to constantly learn new things – these are the basic conditions for a happy life.

happiness is a by product quote
“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness it is generally the by-product of other activities.”
Aldous Huxley

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.”
Andrew Carnegie

“It is very important to make sure the person you’re marrying is like minded. It’s crucial for a couple to have shared goals.”
Barbara Friedman

“We all live with the objective of being happy, our lives are all different and yet the same.”
Anne Frank

'We find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve.' Maxwell MaltzClick To Tweet

“Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies the important ongoing activity.”
Paul Goodman

“Happiness is not a goal it is a by-product,”
Roosevelt, Eleanor

Further Reading: 100 being happy quotes to unlock the key to happiness

Grab the inspirational cards for free!

goal setting quotes cards

For more inspirations check out the inspirational cards you can download for free with 9 inspirational quotes about reaching goals.

=> Click here and download the cards for FREE!

Inspirational picture quote books

Do you love inspirational images with words of wisdom? Then I highly recommend to check out my motivational books and 101+ picture quotes and cute motivational images.

picture quote books

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