The value of articulating your goals

I have been reading on the internet when I chanced upon an interesting statement by Tal-ben Shahar.

People who set and articulate goals for themselves do much better than people who do not. The arguments that he presented following this statement were illuminating. He focused more on the articulation of the goals than on the setting. The process of articulation adds tremendous clarity and a focus on achievement.

Looking back on my own life, I have to agree. I have held a number of goals as images in my mind, but have often been waylaid in my pursuit of those goals. A well-intention-ed but fuzzy idea to do well or to build a product or service that people might want has often been one's undoing.

The goals I have clearly articulated and communicated to dear ones have always been achieved; sometimes later than the desired or stated time line, but achieved nevertheless.

Most literature on achievement stresses the need to set goals, but not enough focus has been laid on the wisdom of spending effort on articulating those goals.