Scripting · “You Assign the Meaning”
The Goal-Setting Procedure
Turn a long wish-list into a small set of qualified, planned, dated goals you review daily.
(1) Dump every want.
(2) Next day, ask “why?” of each — strike the weak ones.
(3) List benefits.
(4) List obstacles.
(5) List skills/knowledge needed.
(6) List people/groups whose help you need.
(7) Build a specific plan.
(8) Set a completion date + step timelines.
(9) Narrow to a few, balanced across life-areas.
(10) Review daily.
What it is
Zig Ziglar’s structured method for converting vague wants into a working program of goals. Where most goal advice stops at “write it down and set a deadline,” Ziglar adds a qualifying pass: every candidate goal is interrogated for why you want it, what benefit it brings, what stands in the way, what you’ll need to learn, and whose help you’ll require — and only the goals that survive get a plan and a date.
The result is a short list of goals you actually own, each backed by reasons strong enough to carry you through the work. It is Hill’s “definiteness of purpose” rebuilt as a filtering procedure, not just a declaration.
The Method
Ziglar’s goal-setting procedure, faithfully synthesised:
- Dump every want. Sit down and list everything you want — to be, do, or have. Don’t censor; get the full wish-list out so nothing is missed.
- Wait, then ask “Why?” of each. Come back the next day. For each item ask why you want it. If you can’t give a solid reason in one sentence, strike it. Reasons are the fuel.
- List the benefits. For each surviving want, write what achieving it would do for you — the concrete payoff that makes it worth the price.
- Identify the obstacles. Name what stands between you and the goal. Naming the barrier is the first step to planning around it.
- List the skills and knowledge needed. What must you learn or become competent at to reach this goal?
- Identify the people and groups whose cooperation or help you’ll need — and the organizations to work with.
- Build a plan of action. Spell out, specifically, the steps to get there.
- Set a completion date for the goal, plus timelines for the steps along the way.
- Narrow and balance. From the qualified list, choose the few goals worth real effort, spread across the areas of a balanced life (Ziglar’s “wheel”: physical, mental, spiritual, family, financial, career, social). Trying to chase everything at once dilutes all of it.
- Review the goals daily to keep them programmed and current. (Sourcing note: the seven qualifying elements — identification, benefits, obstacles, skills/knowledge, people, plan, deadline — reproduce Ziglar’s published procedure; the “dump then ask why” front end and balanced-life narrowing are faithful to his teaching in See You at the Top and his goals program. Phrasings here are paraphrase, not verbatim text.)
Source & Lineage
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012), American salesman turned motivational speaker, laid out his goals procedure in See You at the Top (1975) and developed it across his later Goals program and Goals: Setting and Achieving Them on Schedule.
The method descends directly from Napoleon Hill’s Definite Chief Aim and the broader success-literature tradition, with Maxwell Maltz’s self-image psychology underneath (Ziglar leaned heavily on self-image — see his Self-Talk Card).
Common refinements
Skipping the “why.” Without a strong reason, the goal won’t survive the first hard day. The qualifying pass is the point.
- Too many goals. A qualified list can still be too long. Narrow to the few you’ll truly pursue, and balance them across life-areas.
- No deadline, or a fantasy deadline. No date = no urgency; an impossible date = chronic discouragement. Make it a believable stretch, with step-timelines.
- Listing obstacles and stopping there. Each obstacle should generate a plan element, not just worry.
- Set-and-forget. Without daily review the program goes stale.