Interesting Ideas on How to Set, Select, and Stack Goals

Goals help you create a vision for your future, prioritize your actions, and take steps towards achieving your desired outcome. Habit stacking and focusing on systems can help you turn dreams into reality. The journey to reach the goal is more important than the goal.

Dear Spirited Earthling,

Having goals is essential to achieving success in any aspect of life, whether it be personal or professional. Setting goals allows you to focus your energy and efforts on what matters most to you. It gives you a sense of direction and purpose, helping you to stay motivated and driven towards achieving your desired outcome.

Goals provide a framework for planning and decision-making, allowing you to prioritize your tasks and allocate your time and resources effectively. By breaking down your goals into smaller, more manageable steps, you can create a roadmap to success that will guide you towards your desired destination.

Going for your goals takes courage, commitment, and determination. It requires you to step outside your comfort zone and take risks, but the rewards can be significant. By taking action towards your goals, you can build confidence, resilience, and a sense of accomplishment.

Identifying, Setting and Selecting Goals

Now is a great time for you to identify and set your goal for the month, quarter, semester, or year.

• What is a goal? Merriam-Webster defines a goal as the end toward which effort is directed. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as an aim or purpose that you want to achieve.

• What is goal-setting? The Cambridge Dictionary defines goal setting as the process of deciding what you want to achieve over a particular period.

It is easy to set goals, but it’s hard to work towards them. So when you are identifying your goals, think less about what you want to achieve and more about the sacrifices you are willing to make.

To have more money, you will need to deny yourself things in order to save more. You will have to put time into upskilling so that you can ask for salary raises and promotions. To lose weight, you will need to suffer sore muscles and earlier mornings or later evenings. You will be saying no to things, so you can yes to your goal.

The struggle to achieve a goal is not in choosing the wrong one (poor identification), but in the lack of awareness of what is required and the lack of desire to do the hard and unglamorous steps to reach it. Goal setting is accepting the sacrifices and choosing the costs you’re ready to pay.

“Your actions reveal how badly you want something. If you keep saying something is a priority but you never act on it, then you don’t really want it. It’s time to have an honest conversation with yourself. Your actions reveal your true motivations.” ~ James Clear

An important but overlooked step in goal setting is goal selection – better focus, not larger goals, supports progress and success.

If you set more than one goal, they will be competing for your focus and time.  Avoid setting 5 goals to spread your time and attention over - focus on one or two at a time. Have your list of goals nearby for reference, and move on to the next one as you progress and achieve the one or two goals to which you gave your all.

“You don’t need more time, you just need to decide.” ~ Seth Godin

Lastly, keep your goals S.M.A.R.T.

Macro and Medium and Micro Goals

Once you have chosen your hard and identified your goal, it becomes your macro goal. It is the overarching primary goal. It is now time to identify the medium and micro goals that will help you achieve your macro goal.

The medium goals are ways to achieve the macro goal, and the micro goals are the actionable steps to achieve the medium goals. For example:

Macro Goal: I want to lose 1 kg this month.

• Medium Goals: I want to exercise more. I want to eat healthier.

  • Micro Goals: Schedule time to exercise at a gym or at home, and show up. Only go down aisles that have healthy food at the supermarket, following a shopping list.

Macro Goal: I want to read 8 books this year.

• Medium Goals: Read a chapter a day.

  • Micro Goals: Read every night before bed instead of watching an episode. Carry a book with you and read while you’re on the train, having a coffee, or waiting for a friend.  

Shop our Book of Goals to start identifying your goals and related actionable steps.

Focus on Your Systems, not Your Goals

Each Olympian has the goal to win gold, but only some have the systems in place to get them the gold. Every entrepreneur has the goal to build a wildly successful business, but only some achieve it. Therefore, it cannot be the goal that is most important. James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) uses two analogies to better understand systems and goals:

1.      Your Goals are the Compass, and the System is the Path

If you were following a treasure map to buried treasure, your goal should be the compass that directs you to the treasure and not the buried treasure itself.

Why? When you focus only on the buried treasure, and your expectations aren’t met (maybe you are envisioning stacks of gold, but what you find is a single silver bracelet that meant the world to the map creator) you will feel disappointed that it isn’t a treasure chest instead of revelling in finding it. It makes happiness conditional.

The truth is, the treasures in life often won’t be what is expected, and happiness shouldn’t only come when your goals are met in the way you think they should be. The 3D journey in life is going to be very different from the 2D line on the map.  Surrender to the flow of life.

The system is how you are going to journey and stay on the path. Focusing on systems and not goals makes you stay in the present moment and see the value of the journey. There is no conditional happiness, but there is continual happiness because it is linked to the journey.   

“When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.” ~ James Clear

2.      Your Goals are the rudder, and the System is the Oars

Your goals determine your direction, like a rudder on a boat. Your system determines your progress, like oars for a boat. For example:

• If your goal is to write a book, your system is to schedule time to write each day.

• If your goal is to start and build a successful company, your system involves recruiting good employees and having a marketing and sales strategy.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” ~ James Clear

If your goal is to have a neat room, you can spend a day cleaning and tidying it. But will your room stay this way if you are not changing the systems that cause the mess?

If your goal is to have a neat room, your system is to put clothes in the laundry basket (and not on the floor) and give everything a home (so that everything can be placed back where it belongs). When you focus on the input, the output takes care of itself.

“Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat.” ~ James Clear

Habit Stack to Your Goal

In Atomic Habits, James Clear encourages habit stacking. Habit stacking is linking a new goal (new habit) to a current habit. He uses this sentence as a template: Before/After (current habit), I will (new habit).

• Before I have my morning coffee, I will meditate for 1 minute.

• Before I impulse buy, I will wait and think about the purchase.

• Before I shower, I will do 10 squats.

• After I have brushed my teeth, I will floss.

• After I get home from work, I will hug and kiss my partner.

You have established actions that happen every day. Stacking a new habit to an established one is an easy reminder every time you repeat the established habit, and gives you an actionable time and place for the new habit to form.

Shop our Book of Habits to identify your healthy habits and track your progress.

Find Your Goldilocks Zone

Finding your goldilocks zone may take time, but it is there and will require some discomfort (so don’t look for the easiest way out). This is the zone that encourages long-term growth. A balance between effort and progress.

The habit-stacking sentence above can be seen as the minimum. It is also important to have a maximum. Pushing hard every day is unsustainable, so setting a maximum prevents the potential for burnout and avoidance. For example:

• I want to do 10 squats a day, but not more than 50.

• I want to write 400 words a day but not more than 1000.

• I want to practice my hand stand for 5 minutes a day, but not more than 10 minutes.

• I want to read 5 pages a day, but not more than a chapter.     

It’s great if you can write 2000 words a day, but is it worth it if it means for the next week you cannot write? The point is to show up, not to overdo it on the first day.

Make It Easy to Achieve Your Goals

Make achieving the goals easier for yourself by setting up your environment for success.

“You don’t have to be the victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it.” ~ James Clear

Keep a big bottle of water at your desk so that you hydrate throughout the day. Use a Pomodoro timer to stand up every 25 minutes and move. Choose a gym on your route home or keep dumbbells next to your desk. Make it easy.

“Whenever you want to change your behavior, you can simply ask yourself: How can I make it obvious? How can I make it attractive? How can I make it easy? How can I make it satisfying?” ~ James Clear

The Goal is Not the End

The journey to reach the goal is more important than the goal. The experience of striving towards a goal is valuable. Your goals help you plan your progress. Your systems are good for making progress. You are investing in yourself when your systems encourage growth.

Having goals and going for them is a crucial aspect of personal and professional growth. It allows you to create a vision for your future, prioritize your actions, and take steps towards achieving your desired outcome. Set time aside to identify and set goals. Focus on your systems and not solely on the goal – enjoy the journey, celebrate your progress, and have gratitude for where you came from, where you are, and where you're going. Try habit stacking to get new habits into your already-established routine. Find your Goldilocks zone and thrive there, even when it’s a different zone for others.

Spirited Earthling is more than just a blog – it's a gathering place for kindred spirits drawn by an interest in self-discovery, the appeal of self-care, and a desire for a deeper connection to the world. Written and created for curious minds and spiritual hearts seeking meaning in everyday life, this blog aims to help you curate your wholesome personal growth with free weekly ideas and affordable resources for sale.

As you navigate your personal growth journey using the words and ideas shared here, consider sharing this blog with someone looking for inspiration or motivation on their own journey. We are all spirited earthlings, and can lift each other together with mindful, connected living.

Thank you for being part of this community.

Best wishes, warmest regards

Jordan

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Affirmation: I am capable. I am capable of growing. I am capable of succeeding. I am capable of all things I put my mind to.

Journal Prompt: What kind of person do I want to be?

Shop: Book of Goals and Book of Habits.

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