This morning I heard that Ghana has reached the semi-finals stage in the ongoing African Cup of Nations tournament. I don't know how well they played and how the players are faring.  All I am waiting for is to hear the shout of “GOAL” and I join the celebrations. I don't really care about who scored and how they scored.

All I know is that they are playing and what I care about is for them to score and bring the cup home.

In life, everybody has their goals and objectives.  Even for the Black stars players, all of them have different goals and some have specific reasons why they love to play in the national team.  Some are happy to play because of monetary rewards; perhaps this is why we had to fly money to Brazil during the last world cup. Others play because they want fame and to use it to bluff; after all many are called but few are chosen. Others use it to showcase themselves to the world and perhaps have a better bargaining power. I think there are still a few others who play for sentimental reasons and most importantly, for patriotic reasons.

I have taken my New Year goals very seriously. Some have argued that it is useless and that there is really no difference between the last day of 2016 and the first day of 2017 and beyond. What they mean is that life is a continuum so there is really no need to set goals every year.  I beg to differ. You need to have a view of what you want to achieve in the short term, medium and long term and to be able to do that you have to place them within defined timeframes.

Setting a goal should not be a big academic exercise. Personally, I see a goal as a strong desire for you to achieve a certain outcome. This outcome when achieved gives you some benefits.

All serious businesses, individuals, countries and several enterprises set goals.

The Millennium Development Goals of the UN, Ghana's Vision 2020 and several others are examples of goals. Once the goals are set, you develop an action plan to enable you achieve the desired results. If businesses with thousands of workers can set goals for the employees to achieve, why can't an individual do same.

As you can see it was only yesterday that we started preparing for Christmas and the New Year festivities. Isn't it amazing that we have already gone past three weeks? So if you don't have a plan for your life, that is a problem because you have no basis for assessing whether you are making progress or not.

It means you are just living and waiting for things to happen instead of working to make good things happen.

Interestingly, I have noticed that your goals determine how you lead your life, who you associate with and which places you go to. It also determines which learning ventures you should pursue and even how much money you should save. Before I started this column I wrote it as a goal and because I had it written somewhere, I kept on referring to it and reminding myself.

Last week I started riding a bike. This is partly for fun but most importantly as a form of exercising.  Living a healthier lifestyle is a choice you make and when you do that you must work towards it. It is not the same as watching football and running commentary.

You don't have any part to play in getting the Black stars to score so you don't have to do anything. But if you were a member of the team you would not afford to sit back and do nothing. You will work your heart out and play with all your might to enable you score goals and win the ultimate cup.

If it doesn't happen that year it will happen if you persevere. All you have to do is to set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable and realistic.

So if you haven't determined what you want to achieve this year, you must quickly think through and write it out. Afterwards you have to commit yourself to its implementation. A goal without commitment is like a car without an engine. I wish you all the best as you work hard to achieve your goals.