Lou Holtz and Others on Goals

I added about twenty quotes to the Quotes Section this morning and several have stayed on my mind all day. 

A few were quotes about faith and a few were quotes about ability, but the majority of them were quotes about Goals.   One of my favorites was a Lou Holtz quote:
“I’m a firm believer in goals.  Take a good look at me.  You’ll notice I stand five feet ten, weigh 152 pounds, wear glasses, speak with a lisp, have a physique that appears like I’ve been afflicted with beriberi or scurvy most of my life.  The only reasons why I can stand up as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame are:  I have a great wife and I am very goal oriented.” - Lou Holtz

Brillaint!

I’m not sure which I love more:  The fact that he mentioned his wife, and mentioned her first no less, or the fact that he illustrates just how important goals are.  Oh, who am I kidding, I know which one impresses me the most.  But I do love the one about goal setting, too.

Below are some other really great quotes about goals and goal setting:

“When people say to me: ‘How do you do so many things?’ I often answer them, without meaning to be cruel: ‘How do you do so little?’ It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don’t. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.” - Philip Adams

“Don’t be a spectator, don’t let life pass you by.” - Lou Holtz

“If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Unassembled efforts, widespread ambition - these are the things that have made most men fail. Most men have too many irons in the forge. Specialize, and you realize. Scatter, and you shoot a mud scow with bird shot.” - F.D. Van Amburgh, The Mental Spark Plug (1923)

Anyone know what a mud scow is? I’m not looking to shoot one, mind you, I’m just curious.

A final thought about goals:  Something that trips us all up, in my opinion, is that we aren’t specific enough with our goals.  For example, we’ll set “fitness” as a goal, but it’s just too broad.  We do so much better when we have specific goals to aim for.  If we, instead, set a goal such as “Be able to jog around the park trail without stopping.” (Mine would read, “Be able to jog around the park trail without dying,” but that’s another story.)

It also helps if we have a specific deadline we’re aiming for.  Having a cut off seems to set a fire beneath us, and without that fire, we aren’t going anywhere… no further than a mud scow.  What?

Related posts:

1. The Only Way to Reach Our Goals is To Keep Moving ! Why in the world do we often fall prey to...
2. Setting Goals to Avoid Diddly Squat Days My grandmother has always had a way with words. When...
3. Friday’s Quote of the Day     SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Lou Holtz and Others on Goals",...