One can set one’s own goals. It is possible. One does not have to have goals set for one by anyone else. This is itself a revolutionary concept. One can set goals for all of the different concentric spheres of one’s responsibility. One can set goals for oneself. One can set goals to achieve in relation to one’s close intimate loved ones; for one’s extended family; for one’s various groups; for one’s city, county, state, province, nation; for one’s continent; for one’s species; for the world of living things; and for the universe as a whole. Not only can one set goals at all these levels, but setting them at all levels greatly reinforces the power of the goals. Every level of goals becomes more workable if integrated with all other levels.


One can also set goals at all levels of time. In fact, one needs to set goals for all levels of time. One needs to plan at least what one will accomplish today, this week, this month, this year, and in ten years. One needs a clear picture of what one wants to do before one climbs the ladder to the spaceship to explore the next planet. To set these goals for all these times and at all these levels and integrate them makes immediate goals much more easily achievable. Our practical experience is that if a person sets only an immediate goal, she or he will mill around [wander around aimlessly] indefinitely and discharge on that goal without achieving it, but that if a farther goal is set, he or she will discharge while achieving the immediate one and will tackle the next one.


From pages 44 to 45 of “The Key Concepts and 
Insights of Re-evaluation Counseling to Date,” 
in the Fundamentals of Co-Counseling Manual