What Type of Goals Do You Have?

This is the time of year when we traditionally set our goals for the year. In this practice we often think of some dreams or goals we would like. Yet a staggering 92% of us will not achieve those goals. And many of us will have the same goals next year. 

What can we do about it? Plenty. First, let's understand what are the types of the goals we are setting. There are four types of goals:

• "Whim" Goals
• "Should" Goals
• "Kinda Wanna" Goals
• "Inspired" Goals

Whim Goals
Remember when you were a kid at Christmas and depending on the your age, either the Sears catalog came out or the Toys 'R' Us Big Book of Toys was delivered. The minute you got it, you poured through it so you could decide all the things you wanted for Christmas. That's the way most people set their yearly goals. They look at a collection of goals and ideas things and say, "That's what I want!" The problem is that five minutes before they had never or rarely ever thought about getting that goal. These are what I call "whim" goals. Goals that came to us in a whim and will leave us just as quickly.

Kinda Wanna Goals
Then we have the "kinda wanna" goals. Things that we may have thought about but aren't really ready to do anything different to create them. I "Kinda wanna" to learn how to play the piano, only we don't own a piano or digital keyboard. It might be fun to know how to play, but the thought of putting in the practice time in order to be proficient doesn't really interest us. Both "whim" and "kinda wanna" goals are the types of goals from those goal workshops were we think of everything you could possible want, hope for, and desire. We build a long list of goals that just don't matter to us that much.

Should Goals
Then we have the "should goals'. Things we should do. I find that most New Year's Resolutions fall in this category. We should eat more vegetables. We should exercise more. We should drink more water, get more sleep, finally clean out our closets or switch to decaf. The problem with should goals is that if you don't have a better reason then should, you should not expect yourself to work at them. For example, if you should lose some weight because you should. That's the type of goal where you buy the gym membership and show up only twice. If you should lose some weight and get in better shape because you will die of cardiac disease if you don't, that is not a should goal. "Should" goals make us think we need to do them but when pressed, we really don't want or need to do them. Sure, if someone handed it to us we would take it, but do we honestly think we are going try hard to get there?  The only different between a "should" goal and a "kinda wanna" goal is there is a reason, albeit, a weak one. So if someone asked you WHY you want it you would have an answer. Not one that raises your level of effort or commitment, but it is in fact a reason.

Inspired Goals
Then we have the Inspired Goals. These are the goals that you are excited about getting, willing to do the work, willing to spend the time, the energy, and the money necessary to get there. Everyone tells you to set big goals, big dreams, but as we talk about in the last post, it isn't the size of the dream or the goal that matters. It is the size of the feeling it creates inside of you as you think about achieving that goal. The feeling you have doing the work to get closer to that goal. That the positive feeling of the achievement of the goal will greatly outweigh any of the struggle you experience along the way.

When I talk to my clients who have achieved their big goal or dream, they talk about the struggles and setbacks they experienced as just part of the process. They didn't want the setbacks to happen, but they did. So they just found a way to overcome them. There was never any question about whether they would continue to fight for that goal. It was a simple decision that this goal was important, and nothing was going to stop them. They set up their life and their schedule so that there was time to put in the work, to find the coach, to continue to practice, to work, to hone their skills until one day they realized they have achieved their goal.

So which type of goal do you have for this year? Now that you have this framework, access your goals. Identify in which category your goals fall? Access your level of commitment to each goal on a scale on 1 to 10.

If you discovered that the goal is a whim or something you are not committed to, at least now you don't have to beat yourself up next year for not accomplishing it. If you are looking to increase your commitment level, how could you change or think about it differently that would raise your level of commitment? Are there other benefits to achieving this goal that you weren't thinking about before?

If you discovered that your goal is Inspired and your commitment level is a 10, then there is nothing that can stop you.

"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate that can circumvent, hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul."
                   - Ella Wheeler WIlcox