The real purpose of goals is not what you think.

It’s not the goal itself.

And the real value of goals will surprise you too.

The purpose of goals is to focus your mind so that you create your future intentionally, instead of allowing the built-in negativity bias embedded in your subconscious to create it for you.

The ultimate value of goals is who you become along the way: how you evolve as a human, how you overcome obstacles, how you learn and grow, and how you contribute.

We think after we reach a goal, then we’ll feel good, but there are two important reasons to feel good the whole way through:

1. Your feelings are the fuel for your actions. The fastest way to achieve the results you want is to generate the feelings you want—in advance.

2. If you wait until you get the result before feeling good, you miss the opportunity to feel good along the way. Why delay your own happiness?

The reason you want to achieve something is because of how you’ll feel when you’ve done it.

You want the financial success because you’ll feel secure or free, not for the number of zeros in your bank account.

You want to write the book, give the speech, win the award because of the feeling of accomplishment you’ll have.

As soon as you achieve one goal, you’ll set another, which is why the goal is not the destination.

The journey is the goal.

This is why you want to enjoy the process.

Feel good first.