Is it a goal or an outcome?

You know what’s more important than any goal you set? Everything you do that gets you there.

Let’s say you set a goal to make $10,000. You know all of the reasons why you want to make this money, you’re motivated and ready to go.

Here’s the thing: that’s not your real goal. It’s actually not much of a goal at all. It’s an outcome. It’s what you hope will happen if you do the right stuff.

If money grew on trees, making $10,000 would be a very straightforward goal. You’d simply pick as many dollar bills as needed from the trees until you had ten grand. Ta-da! Goal achieved. And if you’re able to do that, please tell me where you live so I can come for nice long visit of dollar-bill picking.

Here’s what the real goal is: all of the behavior that makes earning this money possible. If you do all of that, it’s very likely that you’ll make that money. Maybe more, maybe less, you’ll see. The point is that if you consider the work needed to get there as your actual goal, you’re much more likely to succeed.

These steps may include:

• Make five sales calls per day.
• Attend two networking events per week.
• Follow up with each introduction within a day.
• Write very insightful newsletters every week.

Each of those steps is your goal – because if you don’t do them, you’ll never make that money.

When I did nutritional counseling with clients who wanted to lose weight, I said the same thing. If my client wanted to lose 10 pounds, I’d help them craft the behavior that would get her there: reducing portions, keeping a food diary, drinking more water. At no point did I weigh my clients.  Instead, I’d reward the behavior that we both knew would get them to them goal. When they finally got on a scale, the proof was in the pudding (so to speak).

Why does this work? It keeps the focus on the most important aspect of reaching a goal: doing what you know you need to in order to succeed. Success is the by-product. And if you’ve outlined the right steps, you’ll get there. Promise.