I have had always been fascinated by the idea of goal striving, especially after having read Dr Maxwell Maltz's Psycho-Cybernetics classic, following my particiation in the Dynamics of Goal Setting program from Success Motivation Institute, Waco, TX, in the late seventies.

Here's a specific passage from the book about Dr Viktor Frankl, which intrigued me, but didn't strike me as much when I first read it:

"Viktor Frankl, dintinguished Austrian psychologist and author of Man's Search for Meaning, survived three years of imprisonment in Aushwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps during World War II.

Although he witnessed massive suffering, death and destruction, Frankl stated that one in twenty prisoners actually survived these death camps, and the primary reason for many of these survivors was their continued purpiose ffor existence.

These surviving prisoners set goals to either see their families again, fulfill a previous mission, or live long enough to inform the world of the atrocities of war. It was these goals that helped keep them alive, while others without a purpose for their continued survival, perished."

I must admit that I actually didn't understand this particular passage very well, or rather its significant implications, until I have had the wonderful opportunity to read Dr Frankl's book,  and also after a planned visit to the remnant of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, as part of my holidays across Eastern Europe with my late wife Catherine, in the late eighties.

I thus remember vividly this elegant quote from Dr Frankl:

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

I fully concur with the concept that setting goals is a key element of becoming successful. They help us to work effectively and methodically, and they also help us to manage our tasks and priorities.

From my own experiences, it is best to also set short-term goals rather than just long-term goals, as these will help us to work towards our long-term goals, and keep us motivated as we will have small wins and mini-achievements along the way.

In retrospect, this has had been one of my best life lessons.