Some people don’t like to set goals because they’re afraid of falling short. “What if I set a goal and don’t hit it? I’ll feel like a failure.” If we take an all-or-nothing approach to goal-setting, then we’re misunderstanding what goals are for. They are tools meant to help us make progress in a direction we already want to go. Your goals should serve you, not the other way around. You are not a slave to your goals. If you set a goal to lose 10 lbs in a month and you only lose 7 lbs are you a failure? Or are you better off than the person who set no goal and lost 0 lbs? Furthermore, did you learn anything from that experience? Are you now in a position to set a better goal? Do you perhaps have a better chance of hitting your goal the next time around? Learn from your failures and you will be successful. Let your failures define you, and they will.