Goals are not Enough

Setting goals is not enough.

It’s that time for new year’s resolutions, and I hope you are creating some!

But if you are only setting goals, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Goals are great. They are necessary. And they are a starting point.

Today I will share with you what to do AFTER you set goals.

What else do you need to set yourself up for success?

Let’s jump right in.

But first, let’s talk about the basics of goal setting.

NOTE - In this article I talk about the steps to take to crush your goals. There is a link at the bottom of this article to download a goal tracker you can use to accomplish all of the how-to steps that follow.

Outcome Goals: A Crash Course

We must start be creating goals.

Specifically, we want to set outcome goals. These are the things we want to achieve.

Now most everyone has heard of SMART goals.

Goals should be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound.

Specific - What do you want to achieve?

Measurable - How will you know you achieve it?

Actionable - Are their clear actions you can take?

Realistic - Is your goal within the realm of achievability?

Time-Bound - By when do you want to achieve it?

Fewer people have heard of HEART goals.

I first learned these from Jim Kwik in his book Limitless.

HEART stands for healthy, enduring, alluring, relevant, and truth.

Healthy - Do your goals support your wellbeing?

Enduring - Do your goals inspire and sustain you?

Alluring - Are your goals enticing?

Relevant - Are your goals related to challenges you are facing or true desires?

Truth - Are your goals true to you, or are you jumping on a bandwagon?

Finally, my suggestion is to set a minimum of 3 goals for yourself at any given time.

One goal should be focused on your work or purpose, one for your health, and one for your relationships.

This ensures you are focusing on your whole self, and not just one piece.

If you only set work goals, your health and relationships can be the price you pay for achieving them.

OK… so you set some goals… now what?

Set Process Goals

This may sound obvious.

To achieve your goals you must take action.

What is not obvious is how to choose the actions you will take.

I recommend creating an action plan with 3 levels:

1. Minimum viable approach (MVA)
2. Moderate effort
3. Massive Action

As we move through life, our motivation naturally ebbs and flows.

To ensure we can make constant progress toward our goals, we must be aware of the minimum viable set of actions we must take to get us there.

When motivation is high, you can take massive action.

When you are moderately motivated, you have the second level to fall back on.

So what does this look like?

First, plan actions for level 1 and 3.

What is the minimal action you need to take to make continuous progress?

For fitness, you might choose to exercise for a minimum of 10 minutes per day.

If you choose to take massive action, maybe that includes hiring a personal trainer and planning hour long workouts 5 days per week.

When you are moderately motivated, you would continue with the 10 minute minimum and add 20-30 minutes on top of that.

That’s it.

What most people do is only plan for the massive action level.

Then, when they hit a road bump, they think “I can’t maintain this massive action… I better stop. See, this would never work for me.”

But this it not right.

If you choose an appropriate MVA, when you hit a challenge you can fall back to your smallest chosen action.

Do this exercise for each of your three major goals.

These are called PROCESS GOALS.

Process goals are the goal actions you will take on a regular basis.

If you set process goals and repeat them, you will eventually end up achieving your outcome goals.

So what do you want to achieve in your career, your health, and your relationships?

Make sure these fit into SMART and HEART criteria.

Then, plan out your process goals… the actions that meet your motivation across the 3 levels.

and BAM. You are good. You are set for action.

But, even then, the risk of falling off the wagon is real.

How do we prevent this?

With accountability.

Accountability

Accountability matters.

We are more likely to rise to the expectations that others hold us to than we do to the expectations we set on ourselves.

However, accountability to ourselves can be the most impactful.

When we are accountable to ourselves we develop a self-image of integrity, reliability, and badassery.

We can create accountability to ourselves by tracking our actions.

How are you tracking your progress?

How are you tracking the actions you take?

If you have a calendar, mark each day you take action.

Make a point to NEVER let more than two days in a row go unchecked.

If you set an effective MVA, this should be no problem.

The Wrap Up

Start by setting the outcome goals you want to achieve.

Then set process goals that are the actions you will take each day to make progress.

Track the number of times you take action.

And keep going.

Remember, you can’t do just one workout and expect to lose that weight you want to shed.

Repeat your process goals and give it time.

I recommend revisiting your goals and progress every quarter.

As mentioned at the top of this article, if you want to use a tracker to help you move into the next year with focus, you can download the PDF I use to track progress.

Yearly Goals and Tracking 

Print this out.

Write on it.

Make gains.

And crush it!

I’ll be rooting for you.

Clark