Do this, do that ... Now set a goal for yourself

It is common practice for a business to request their employees to set goals for themselves and it's often source of headache from both the employee, who struggle with goals, and the business that doesn't know how to inspire their employees.
The reason why people struggle with setting goals for themselves is because they're thought what to do and not how to think. If you train a dog how to fetch a ball, you can't just suddenly ask of him to fetch the newspaper. He needs to be thought how to fetch the newspaper as well.

While humans aren't dogs, the same principle applies. If you tell someone what to do all the time, you can't just suddenly ask of him to "think of a goal"... He hasn't been thought how to.

Many business have libraries with many books that will help the employee improve his technical skills but what most of those libraries lacks are books on how to think.

If a business want their employees to think then they have to provide some tools to teach them how to.