Why You Should Build Habit-, Not Outcome Goals

It’s January. We’re all just back from vacation and doing our goal-setting for the year. Whether you want to purchase ten more doors or lose ten more pounds, how you approach that goal counts.

Progress isn’t linear. Life doesn’t have finish lines. If you set an outcome goal, every day you DON’T hit the goal feels like a loss.

In a weight loss plan we have cheat days and we hit plateaus. Sometimes the numbers don’t move as fast as we think they should. It’s the same with investing. You can make lots of calls, be on top of your networking and even make a bunch of offers, and have frustrating numbers to show.

Look at it this way. I can aim to buy five buildings by the end of the year or I can aim to spend twenty minutes every day connecting with potential partners.

My goal could be losing ten pounds or it could be to stick to my nutrition plan, eat no sweets and drink 2L of water every day.

When I weigh myself at night, I may feel sad if the numbers on the scale don’t move enough. But if my “reward” is checking off boxes that say:

Today I :

Think of hitting big targets this way. I must manifest behavior that translates into incremental improvements that stack up over time. Second, I must have faith that the outcomes will come. It’s my job just to stay on track with good habits and time will take care of the rest.

This year, can you set habit goals and have faith that the outcomes will follow?

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash