I got asked the other day 'Steve, why is it important to set goals?'
This is the answer I gave.
Setting goals gives direction to your subconscious mind, helping you to achieve your goals.
They give you a path in life.
However, setting vague goals like “I want to make more money,” or “I want to live a happy life,” won’t end up leading you to a fulfilling life.
Your Subconscious Mind is a powerful machine, and gaining an understanding of how it works is a big part of setting goals that are successful.
Maxwell Maltz, the author of Psycho-Cybernetics, explains how setting goals gives your subconscious mind direction.
"Your automatic creative mechanism is teleological. That is, it operates in terms of goals and end results. Once you give it a definite goal to achieve, you can depend upon its automatic guidance system to take you to that goal much better than “you” ever could by conscious thought. “You” supply the goal by thinking in terms of end results. Your automatic mechanism then supplies the means,”
Maxwell Maltz
Your subconscious mind behaves similarly to GPS; it is continuously scanning the environment around you for the information relevant to the details you've given it.
This is why setting goals that are clear will provide you with a higher chance of accomplishing them.
A strong signal is sent to your subconscious mind, allowing it to unleash its power of focusing on looking for opportunities to achieve the goal.