Although it’s not exactly one of the quotes about setting goals, Jim Rohn once said that “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” This is definitely true, but there’s just one big problem with it. 

It’s nearly impossible to spend time with the very best people in the world, the kind that you want to become like. 

It takes a lot of belief and hard work to draw new and inspiring friends into your life. This works, but it’s hard to begin. 

But by reading the words of the greatest, most inspiring people in the world, it’s easy to learn from them and let them influence who you are. 

In other words, you can become the average of the most accomplished people if you will study their teachings. 

If you want to be like Michael Jordan, Zig Ziglar, or Tony Robbins, for example, just read what they’ve said and written! 

There’s an awful lot out there to read from these people, but usually, they’ve summed up their life’s work and philosophies in just a few great quotes. 

Reading these can inspire you to become better, and even one day just as successful and inspiring as they are. 

Here are 19 quotes about setting goals that will show you why they are important, help you set the right ones, follow-through, and see your dreams become reality.

The Importance of Setting Goals

1. “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.”

     – Andrew Carnegie

2. “Success is the progressive realization of predetermined, worthwhile, personal goals.”

     – Paul J. Meyer

3. “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”

     – Jim Rohn

4. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

     – Zig Ziglar

5. “If you’re bored with life – you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.”

     – Lou Holtz

6. “Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life.”

     – Les Brown

7. “Goals enable you to do more for yourself and others, too.”

     – Zig Ziglar

How to Set the Right Goals

8. “I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.”

     – Michael Phelps

9. “People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.”

     – Tony Robbins

10. “All good performance starts with clear goals.”

     – Ken Blanchard

11. “You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for.”

     – Ted Turner

Motivation to Keep Going When it’s Difficult

12. “The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can’t let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.”

     – Michael Jordan

13. “If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”

     – Les Brown

14. “Wealth is the progressive realization of worthy goals, the ability to love and have compassion, meaningful, and caring relationships.”

     – Deepak Chopra

15. “People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.”

     – Brian Tracy

16. “Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”

     – Viktor E. Frankl

How to Achieve Your Goals

17. “A goal without a plan is just a wish”

     – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

18. “A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.”

     – Greg Reid

19. “When it’s obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

     – Confucius

If You Want These Quotes About Setting Goals to Make a Difference, Do This Next

To experience the life-changing influence of these amazing people in your life, all you have to do is continue to study their words. 

Pick just one or two of these quotes that really inspired you and study more of the work and sayings of the person who said it. 

Who knows, you just might end up becoming the next Zig Ziglar!