by Nathan Higgins

Created on: November 20, 2009

How Writing Can Help You Achieve Goals

Is it possible to achieve what you want... by writing? Can written thoughts and ideas really be translated into concrete realities? How can writing help you to achieve your goals?

Before answering these questions with a definite 'yes' or 'no', I'd like you to take a few moments to reflect on your own personal experience as a reader. Think about all of the things that you have read over the course of your lifetime. Think about the books, the magazines, the newspapers, and blogs. Think about the Christmas cards, the utility bills, the catalogs, and all of the various mass mailings that you have received. Think about the billboards, the placemats under your coffee mug at the restaurant - and even the writing on the coffee mug itself.

Behind each of these writings, you will find a writer. In every case, the writer was attempting to communicate a message to you. Every writer has a goal - sometimes simple, sometimes complex, and they hope to accomplish this goal by giving you their message.

Examples: Grandma sends you a card, hoping that you will feel loved. A girl wears the single word "Happiness" on her t-shirt, letting everyone know how she feels and what kind of person she is. The two signs outside Joe's Cafe ("Good Food", "Eat at Joe's") are posted with the goal of drawing customers into the restaurant. The electric company stamps "final notice" onto their envelopes, hoping that non-paying customers will be more likely to follow through and actually pay their bills. Opinion editorials are written to newspapers with the goal of changing minds and moving people into action. This list could go on and on.

Writers write - sending a message which they hope will impact you, a message to exercise influence over you, a message which will move you into action. Writers write with the ultimate hope that their readers will help them to achieve their goals.

All of this brings us back again to the questions asked at the beginning of this article: Is it possible for writing to help you achieve what you want? Absolutely! Can written thoughts and ideas really be translated into concrete realities? It happens all the time, through a variety of different kinds of writing.

How can 'writing' help you to achieve your goals?

Your goals can be accomplished through writing, when you effectively enlist others to help you achieve your goals. It is a process which I outline in four steps, as follows:

1. Understand that your purpose in writing is to

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