UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF GOAL STRIVING:

Looking back at my own life, after having traversed the Highway of Life for more than seven decades, I like to say that, I can relate very well to these astute observations of Dr Maxwell Maltz.

Back in the mid seventies, when I was promoted to manager of a division, I was then only 27 years old.

My first investment into personal development was the facilitated 'Dynamics of Goal Setting' program from the Singapore distributor of Success Motivation Institute of Waco, TX, USA.

I remember vividly it was pretty expensive, and I even had to get a finance company loan for one year to pay for it.

The author of the program, Paul J Meyer, gave me the best definition for success:

Success is the progressive realization of predetermined, worthwhile, personal goals.

Nonetheless, that investment somehow spurred my nascent foray into acquiring more skillsets, toolsets, actionsets and mindsets about developing personal mastery.

Naturally along the way, I bumped into great motivational writings, among which 'PsychoCybernetics' by Dr Maltz, 'Law of Success' and 'Think & Grow Rich', both by Napoleon Hill, were most impactful.

As I progressed along the growth trajectory of my professional career tracking in the corporate world, attendant exposures to strategic visionising or planning, vision building, contingency planning, scenario planning, just to name a few, became part and parcel of my knowledge acquisition and management.

One thing that really stood out, as a common denominator in whatever I have had gained within almost a quarter of a century of my professional life, is the relevant core issue of goal setting and goal achieving, in both corporate/business and personal settings.

In the corporate world, having goals is always expressed as the power of having a positive vision of the future.

Drawing intellectual cues from author-filmmaker-futurist Joel Arthur Barker, having a positive vision of the future is the most forceful motivator for change — for success — that companies, schools, communities, nations, and individuals possess.

To cut to the chase, Dr Maltz was far ahead of his time, and I am glad to be able to have the wonderful opportunity to have read his writings, as well as others.