Goals You Can Control
Having big goals can be inspiring, but let’s be real, it can also bring on some serious stress and the constant feeling of not being enough. Way too often, we might feel like we’re not making desired progress in achieving our big goals, which leaves us disappointed and discouraged.
The approach to goals that we’re about to outline is a gentler way to setting your goals. It’s all about staying in control of your goals and focusing on doing rather than achieving.
This framework has 3 elements:
Inputs —> Outputs —> Outcomes
When you start setting your goals, start by thinking about inputs. Think of inputs as resources that you have in an area of your life. They can be things like time, money, energy, knowledge or people. Knowing what inputs you have in your hands keeps you realistic and focused.
Now comes the most important part.
Think about what outputs you can produce with your inputs and define your goals as outputs, not as outcomes (now you’re probably thinking, what the heck are outputs and what’s the difference between outputs and outcomes?)
Okay, an explanation is coming your way.
Outcomes are like big, overarching goals. They are something you would like to achieve, but don’t really have control over. For example, if we say that our goal for this newsletter is to reach x number of subscribers, that would be an outcome. Since we can’t control how many people will subscribe, we simply don’t set this goal.
Instead, we focus on what’s within our control. In this example, that would be writing and publishing 100 newsletters. This is our output. You see how outputs are usually action-focused and rooted in the present moment or near future.
Outcomes are amazing to keep you motivated and to give you a big-picture and strategic approach. But too often, they become the only goals people see, and because they take time to achieve or might never be achieved in a way we’ve imagined, they frustrate us. Improving your health is an outcome of your actions, but you can’t really control whether that will happen. What you can control is going for a long walk 3 times a week, cooking a fresh meal 3 times a week, or seeing your friends every week. Basically, doing things that will lead to improving your health.
So, let your outputs bring you closer to your outcomes. Let your outcomes be a byproduct of working on your outputs, not the goals themselves.