Quotes About Realistic Goals

“For a business to strengthen its position on the market, its managers should become skillful at helping their subordinates to set and achieve specific and measurable goals with realistic deadlines and clear expectations. Managers should also mentor employees through challenges, helping them grow and develop new skills.”

— Anna Stevens

“Th e average person spends much of his or her lifetime building
financial security, but it can be lost, never to be regained. That's
why you need to carefully assess your definition of financial
security and make sure it is realistic for the goals that you have
set. You can take the necessary steps to put that plan in place,
and never lose that financial security, and to pass on your values
and assets to the coming generations.”

— Christopher K. Abts

“Asking why you are doing something serves as a check and always moves your focus back to the big picture. Asking why helps you find out if your actions have come unglued from your goals. In theory, you could do this as often as every day, reviewing your to-do list to make sure it ties to your bigger goals. In my perfect fantasy world, I check my actions against my goals every day. In real life, once a week or once every other week is more realistic.”

— Stever Robbins

“Life can be organized like a business plan. First you take an inventory of your gifts and passions. Then you set goals and come up with some metrics to organize your progress toward those goals. Then you map out a strategy to achieve your purpose, which will help you distinguish those things that move you toward your goals from those things that seem urgent but are really just distractions. If you define a realistic purpose early on and execute your strategy flexibly, you will wind up leading a purposeful life. You will have achieved self-determination, of the sort captured in the oft-quoted lines from William Ernest Henley's poem "Invictus": "I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul.”

— David Brooks

“You have to find out what's right for you, so it's trial and error. You are going to be all right if you accept realistic goals for yourself.”

— Teri Garr

“In the meantime, I just have to create those realistic goals about the fact that I don't have a ton of options as an actor who's been on a science fiction show for 8 years.”

— Michael Shanks

“It's lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for "realistic" goals, paradoxically making them the most time-consuming. It's easier to raise $1,000,000 than it is $100,000. It is easier to pick up the one perfect 10 in the bar than the five 8s.”

— Timothy Ferriss

“Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems.”

— Jurgen Habermas

“We've been in the nation-building business since World War I, and especially since WWII. The goal is not a Jeffersonian Democracy in Afghanistan, but a representative government that respects human rights, protects its own people, and is a friend of the West. These are very realistic - and necessary - goals.”

— Oliver North

“Annabel, one of my clients who cherished her perfectionism because she felt that it made her a fine writer and an excellent mother, was having a hard time with some of David Burns's teachings against perfectionism in his book, Feeling Good. Dr. Burns, she thought, told her to give up all ideal goals and stick only to realistic and average ones. Then she couldn't be disappointed or depressed.”

— Albert Ellis

“The best way to make employees happy is to set realistic goals and achieve them. The big job is to make sure those small steps are pointing us in the right direction and demonstrate at the end of the year that they all add up to something pretty great.”

— Leila Janah

“There is an exuberance in good fantasy quite unlike the most exalted moments of realistic fiction. Both forms have similar goals; but realism walks where fantasy dances.”

— Lloyd Alexander

“Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that's one of the hardest things to do because you don't always know exactly where you're going, and you shouldn't.”

— George Lucas

“And while I don't believe in mapping out each step of a career, I do believe it helps to have a long-term dream or goal. A long-term dream does not have to be realistic or even specific. It may reflect the desire to work in a particular field or to travel throughout the world. Maybe the dream is to have professional autonomy or a certain amount of free time. Maybe it's to create something lasting or win a coveted prize. Some goals require more traditional paths; anyone who aspires to become a Supreme Court justice should probably start by attending law school. But even a vague goal can provide direction, a far-off guidepost to move toward. With”

— Sheryl Sandberg

“The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy-or attention-is invested in realistic goals, and when skills match the opportunities for action. The pursuit of a goal brings order in awareness because a person must concentrate attention on the task at hand and momentarily forget everything else.”

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“Set realistic goals short and long term.
2. Plan an orderly and thorough routine to train the entire body.
3. Make a commitment to stick to your routine for four to six weeks to realize the changes and benefits, develop perseverance and create a habit.
4. Establish enthusiasm for your training, the driving force to perform successfully.
5. Ease into an appropriate training program with a wholesome, thoughtful nutritional plan: proper foods, amounts and order of consumption.
6. Be confident from the beginning that the application of these sound principles will produce the desired results.”

— Dave Draper

“The goals for Virginia lacrosse don't change a lot from year to year. We look at the lineup, start every year on Sept. 1 with the realistic goal to play at the end of the season, the very last game. This team has the talent to be able to do that.”

— Dom Starsia

“I believe you can train yourself to become a positive thinker, but you must cultivate a desire to develop the skill of setting personal worthy and realistic goals. I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When you learn to master the principle of setting a goal, you will then be able to make a great difference in the results you attain in this life.”

— M. Russell Ballard

“Dream big dreams, but never forget that realistic short-term goals are the keys to your success.”

— Mac Anderson

“There's no better feeling, even if I've won a race, than recording a personal best. It's setting yourself personal goals, but also realistic goals.”

— Jenny Meadows

“I like to set realistic goals for myself, not outrageous ones.”

— Evan Longoria

“The only advice I could give is to stay positive and focused in terms of what your goals are, and stick to them. If you can't attain those goals, maybe they're not realistic. At this level only a small percentage of players make it, so you've really got to strive to get what you want.”

— Filo Tiatia

“Common standards ensure that every child across the country is getting the best possible education, no matter where a child lives or what their background is. The common standards will provide an accessible roadmap for schools, teachers, parents and students, with clear and realistic goals.”

— Roy Romer

“Realizing your goal, resolution, or transformation is a journey. Change, like any meaningful endeavor, proceeds sequentially through steps. The journey begins with the contemplation stage of specifying realistic goals, getting ready, or getting psyched. The planning stage is all about prepping. How exactly will I do this thing? At some point you will jump from preparing and planning to perspiring, the work of implementing the new, desired behavior. Getting there is wonderful, but we need to keep you there, which entails persevering through slips and, finally, persisting over time.”

— John C. Norcross

“James Russell offers a timely and compelling blueprint for a realistic transformation of America's energy consumption by refusing to fall victim to conventional thinking. Accessible?pragmatic even?Russell's proposals speak to goals on the immediate horizon and underscore the role that intelligent design can play now in America. On a longer horizon, his analysis points to a range of issues about land use, transportation, and coordination of public and private investments to which the design professions have an enormous contribution to make. Here design and policy find common ground.”

— Barry Bergdoll

“Setting goals for your game is an art. The trick is in setting them at the right level - neither too low nor too high. A good goal should be lofty enough to inspire hard work, yet realistic enough to provide solid hope of attainment.”

— Greg Norman

“Exercise and sports are greatly affected by what goes into the mind, and the mind is greatly affected by sports and exercise as well. This is true among exercisers at all levels, despite their different goals. A major element in mental training is visualization ... Visualizing a positive outcome can create a pattern of success, as long as you set realistic and specific goals.”

— Grete Waitz

“I think happiness is overrated. Satisfied, at peace-those would be more realistic goals.”

— Brad Pitt

“The only person that can give up on you is yourself. People will always say no but you gotta keep trying. As long as you are above the ground there's opportunity. Utilize your time and be serious about your craft. Don't forget to PRACTICE! Be serious about your goals. Understand you have to be talented. Don't seek the impossible be realistic!”

— Tamar Braxton

“Set goals for yourself and put actionable steps in place to ensure that you achieve them. Whether you aim to get a promotion at work or set up your very own business, these ideas will only remain dreams until you write plan out how you are going to reach them by writing down realistic steps towards hitting your targets.”

— Kelly Hoppen

“Set reasonable goals; not something vague and unrealistic like "I want to be super-model skinny." I always had visions of very thin actresses in my mind when I was at the gym and it seemed so unattainable that I would quit any health regimen before it even got off the ground. But when I changed my mindset to focusing on making the healthiest choices possible for myself, it was a lot more realistic, more attainable, and then the results were visible.”

— Alison Sweeney

“You have to remember that no matter how big your goals or how many you have, there are going to be times when you miss by a little bit. You have to be realistic and flexible. One reason I have so many smaller goals is that even if my big goals don't happen, I've still achieved so much along the way, I don't feel the loss.”

— Shannon Miller

“Flow is the process of achieving happiness through control over one's inner life. The optimal state of inner experience is order in consciousness. This happens when we focus our attention (psychic energy) on realistic goals and when our skills match the challenges we face.”

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“Goals should be realistic, attainable, and shared among all members of the team”

— Mike Krzyzewski

“Obviously this stuff takes a bit of planning, but I've always been someone that sets achievable short-term goals. I've never been someone that's had a five-year plan, or a three-year plan. That just seems to lead to a lot of disappointment, and doesn't give you the chance to be flexible. So I've just always been someone that's sort of reassessed where I'm at, and set goals that are realistic. And luckily, I've had plenty of chances to recalibrate and adjust, and good fortune's come my way.”

— Eric Bana

“We're human beings trying to understand and cultivate what it means to feel divine love. We have to start with small, realistic goals.”

— Surya Das

“How much soccer training is it needed to become a top player? It depends on the efficiency of your training routine. Setting long and short-term goals is a must. When planning out a soccer training regime, one must strive for realistic and consistent program that will diminish specific weaknesses. Broad versatility of soccer skills is the Nirvana of every dedicated trainee.”

— Pele

“A tough manager will have realistic quotas for his employees that he keeps to himself and aggressively stretch quotas, anywhere from ten percent higher to a lot more, which he imposes on his staff. If his people miss the stretch numbers but exceed the realistic goals, he's happy. If he's a superb manager, he knows how far they can stretch without breaking.”

— Twyla Tharp

“If they took the idea that they could escape poverty through education, I think it would make a more basic and long-lasting change in the way things happen. What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.”

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

“Focus on what it is that you want, set a realistic goal. Start setting goals that you feel you can accomplish. Don't try to go right to the top in one leap. Every time you accomplish a goal you develop the strength and wisdom to accomplish the next one.”

— Chuck Norris