Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Hall of Fame football coach Lou Holtz often says that the difference between people who succeed and those who drift through life is simple: goals.
Holtz grew up in a small town in West Virginia and, by his own telling, had no special advantages. What he did have was a list. As a young man, he wrote down 107 goals he wanted to achieve in his lifetime — everything from becoming a college football coach to speaking at the White House and winning a national championship.
Many people laughed at the idea of writing down so many goals. But Holtz believed something simple: if you don’t know where you’re going, you will almost certainly end up somewhere else.
Throughout his career, he encouraged players to do the same thing. At the beginning of the season he would ask them not just what they wanted to accomplish as a team, but what they wanted to accomplish as individuals — in football, in school, and in life.
Holtz often explained it this way: people without goals are like ships without a rudder. They move, but they don’t steer.
By the time he retired, Holtz had achieved most of the goals on that original list, including leading the University of Notre Dame to a national championship in 1988.
For Holtz, the lesson was never just about football.
It was about direction.
As he likes to tell young people:
“You’re either growing or you’re dying. Goals give you something to grow toward.”
Hall of Fame football coach Lou Holtz often says that the difference between people who succeed and those who drift through life is simple: goals.
Holtz grew up in a small town in West Virginia and, by his own telling, had no special advantages. What he did have was a list. As a young man, he wrote down 107 goals he wanted to achieve in his lifetime — everything from becoming a college football coach to speaking at the White House and winning a national championship.
Many people laughed at the idea of writing down so many goals. But Holtz believed something simple: if you don’t know where you’re going, you will almost certainly end up somewhere else.
Throughout his career, he encouraged players to do the same thing. At the beginning of the season he would ask them not just what they wanted to accomplish as a team, but what they wanted to accomplish as individuals — in football, in school, and in life.
Holtz often explained it this way: people without goals are like ships without a rudder. They move, but they don’t steer.
By the time he retired, Holtz had achieved most of the goals on that original list, including leading the University of Notre Dame to a national championship in 1988.
For Holtz, the lesson was never just about football.
It was about direction.
As he likes to tell young people:
“You’re either growing or you’re dying. Goals give you something to grow toward.”
