Don't Just Set Goals, Learn to Have Consistency and Good Habits

What ultimately helps you attain a goal?

It's always the habits and consistent behavior you develop over time. One of the hard lessons I've been learning is that you can set goals all you want, but until you learn good habits, you may not achieve those goals. In fact, you only benefit from the false sense of accomplishment from setting goals, not attaining them.

For the past year, I've been trying to lose a few pounds. I'm linebacker-sized but I want to trim down to a healthier quarterback size. (Not to use too many football analogies -- it's just that I have Super Bowl 50 on the brain.) I won't ever be able to change my bone structure or my height; I can change my weight by eating better and exercising.

The goal is to have healthy habits, not just trim down. The real test is one of focus.

Let's say I set a goal to lose 10 pounds by March. That's certainly obtainable, and it gives me a way to measure myself both literally and figuratively. I feel like I'm being productive because I set a goal, not because I really achieved anything (yet). Sometimes, we set goals because that's the easy part. We tell ourselves -- if I set this goal, maybe I will attain it. And then I feel good about myself for setting that goal.

Meanwhile, we don't really change our behavior. We eat a donut in the morning and we watch The Walking Dead instead of walking on a treadmill. Not good.

We miss the real goal. It's a daily change in behavior that leads to success. That's where we should really focus. It's too easy to get wrapped up in goal-setting.

I realized this as I've been dieting because it is the daily regimen of eating properly and measuring my steps that leads to real change. I don't think too much about the end goal. I think about the regimen as a way to achieve the goal. In many ways, the goal is right now. It's the consistency of good behavior that works, not tomorrow or next week. I can't control what happens next week anyway, I can only control the decisions I make right now.

Maybe you disagree with me. We have always been told to set goals. You can't achieve anything unless you have a target. But what if that is only part of the answer? I believe goal-setting is not as important in achieving success as we think. You might say "I want to make a million dollars" but until you decide today to work a little harder, it's more like a dream. You might say "I want to lose ten pounds" and then slam down an entire pizza by yourself. The goal is an illusion -- or maybe even a crutch.

My writing career has certainly gone up and down over the years. But the success is really due to daily perseverance -- an attitude of achievement -- that says today I will research harder, today I will finish that edit, and today I will ask push myself a bit more. Goals and dreams are sometimes indecipherable from each other. But daily habits have life and limb. They exist in the now. They might exist tomorrow. If they last for weeks and months or years, you will see succeed. What you do now, today, determines how you will reach whatever goals you have in mind.

My challenge is to think long and hard about which goals you have set. Why did you even set them? Is it because you are more interested in the idea than actually reaching that milestone? Is it because it's easier to set goals than do the hard work of changing on a daily basis? What changes can you make today that will push you out of a stagnant state of settling?