3 Types of Goals you should make today

A lot of people have something to say about goals. Goals feel good to make and better to achieve. I bet you have set some goals in your life. Our society celebrates the art of goal setting the beginning of every year. But how often have you felt guilty about not reaching your goal or that aspirational New Years resolution?

Guess what, having some goals that you just can’t wake up and achieve are good. This year I completed a goal that took 3-years to complete and 15-years to develop into a goal. I graduated with a Masters of Art in  Marriage and Family Therapy. But prior to 2015, I never thought about being a therapist or getting a masters degree. Honestly, a big part of that was because I didn’t have a bachelors degree.

In 2013, I began asking myself a question, “what do I want to accomplish in my life?” I came up with the answer of being a pastor and wanting to help build heathy relationships. Fast-forward 6-years and I am now a pastor and a new therapist. How did I get her from there; by using these 3 goals.

1. A goal you can accomplish.
2. A goal you have to work to achieve – even if partially.
3. A goal you can’t accomplish today – but can work towards.

Ok, I don’t know what your goals are. Your goals will evolve and change over time and completion. So it’s important to have an understanding of what type of goals you should always be making.

A Goal you can accomplish

Find something every day you can accomplish and then do it. Accomplishing one task will encourage you, give you the reward of accomplishing something, and motivate you to accomplish more tasks.

Admiral William H. McRaven stated in a commencement speech to the University of Texas that,

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.“

Simple tasks are valuable. They create momentum in your day. Never underestimate the value of accomplishing small things. Click To Tweet

A goal you have to work to achieve

Set a goal that you have to work at. It’s great that you can make your bed or set the coffee pot up before bed, but that’s just the preparatory work that gets you ready to accomplish bigger tasks.

One of my goals this year is to improve my physical fitness. I’ve been tweaking the details of what that goal looks like for me. Do I want to reach my pre-military body weight? Is it more important to see how strong I can become? Is it time to run that marathon I regularly think about? But I know a few things.

1. I have to change my diet.
2. I have to exercise.
3. I have to adjust my schedule.

To reach my fitness goal I have to set aside time to exercise. I also have to be intentional with my diet. Goals you have to work to achieve require planning and effort. I exercised and ate right today, but that took planning, time and follow-through.

It’s hard to set a goal that takes work. You are creating work for yourself. But when you make goals in the context of a dream you want to achieve you have a purpose driving your action. For me, each day I have tasks that I want to accomplish (e.g. send emails, produce content, create a report, complete a training). In my daily planner there is a space to mark if I accomplished, need to defer, or cancel my goals for the day. Often I will defer a goal, that just needs more time or intentional action to accomplish. (Of course there are plenty of times I just don’t feel like doing something.)

Writing this blog post is an example of a goal that I have to work to achieve. It is a fairly simple task but it requires time and some research. If I don’t plan and create the space for my goals surrounding this blog I will continually fail to reach my goals.

In order to get different results you have to take different actions. Click To Tweet

Remember: Some tasks require a little planning and effort.

A goal you can’t accomplish today

It may seem like a contradiction to make a goal that you can’t accomplish. Why put something on your to-do list that won’t get done? I’m sure all the task people reading this are shaking your head in disgust at me right now. That’s ok, just hear me out. Simply answered, sometimes it’s worth working on something bigger than you.

This is where your dream live.

You never achieve that which you do not strive to do. If you don’t make a list (physically or otherwise) and prioritize each task in your day something else will always come along and allocate your time away from that which you dream to achieve.

Goals are the tools that bring your dreams to pass.   Click To Tweet

Goals you can’t accomplish today are achieved tomorrow by completing smaller goals that move you toward your future goal-dream.

So dream big and set lofty goals for yourself. Don’t worry about hitting every goal all at once.

Only once the tortoise accepted that it would take commitment to complete his race was the tortoise able to reach his goal. The tortoise had to press on despite what the hare appeared to be accomplishing.

Recap

Set these 3 types of goals each day and you will accomplish your dreams. Goals help you to bring clarity to your dreams. Goals help you gain motivation. Goals help you build confidence.

1. Create at least one goal you know you will be able to accomplish every day. Accomplish that goal early in your day.
2. Create a goal each day that will take effort and intentionality.
3. Create a goal that you won’t complete.

As a closing thought, goals are extremely personal. If you share a goal with someone and they discredit your goal don’t take it personally. Hold on to what you want to achieve and know that their opinion is simply a reflection of what is in their own heart. Your goals are for you and not for anyone else to judge.

To accompany this thought, when you find people who support your goals and work to support you, lean in, those are your people.

What are some goals you have?

leave a comment below with a goal you can achieve right now, a goal you will work at and a goal you are working toward.

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