Goals and planning

A recent conversation provoked the following thought: You don't need a career plan to be successful but in order to achieve personal success you do need goals.

I'm inclined to agree because goals can be the milestones that remind us we are heading in the right direction. They also give us a good excuse to celebrate success. As a result goals form a key part of our motivation. They help directly to keep us going.

Immediate goals can be clear and well defined but as we look into the future the variables increase and it is arguable that highly-defined, fixed objectives contain as much risk as reward. One reason to support this? Although they can be motivational and achievable; fixed, long-term objectives definitely can't be guaranteed.

Because this is clearly a subject too complex to resolve in one post and maybe even too complex to find a definitive answer for, I'll end with this point. A fixed objective is not essential to personal success but an idea of direction is. An open interpretation of what your values, talents and goals might lead to is an exciting prospect for the future because it allows newly gained knowledge and experience to contribute as well.

That's enough from me but there's a lot more to be said. What do you think?