The Anatomy Of A Goal

By Chad

Yesterday, we discussed the critical difference between how Millionaires and most other people approach the goals that they set. Today, we will look more closely at goals themselves, and how to structure, set and monitor them for optimum success.

The key point to successful goal attainment is never giving up on a single goal you set.

As silly as it seems the old adage “if at first you don’t succeed…” really rings true for successful people. When you don’t experience success in reaching a goal, you must continue to strive for it until you do.

Many people feel that this is impossible, because many people don’t understand the anatomy of a goal. Goals have a few different parts, or at least they should, and if you don’t take those different parts into consideration, you will very often feel that you have “failed.”

Let me offer an example. Let’s use a goal that an online marketer might set:

“I’m going to make ten sales by April 30^th.”

This may seem like a very simple goal, but it is absolutely crucial that the person setting this goal recognize the different components that make up the anatomy of his or her goal and appreciate the significance of each. Let’s break down this goal into its different components, and investigate how to treat each one.

The components we will be discussing are:

• Action
• Quantity
• Deadline

There is a fourth component not included in the example goal that we will discuss later on.

First, let’s consider the Action, as this is the most pivotal part of any goal.

Goals pretty much boil down to an Action, as it is the only goal component that can stand completely alone. Simple goals are often nothing more than an action, which is why they are often left unmet, but we will discuss that more later.

In the case of our example, the Action is to “make sales.” This is what our online marketer is going to achieve and therefore is the heart of their goal.

Second, let’s take a look at the Quantity.

This is actually an optional component, as some goals will revolve around a specific event, or an Action that can only be achieved once. If the Action in a goal you set can be achieved multiple times, consider including a Quantity in your goal.

Generally speaking, when a goal needs a Quantity for its Action, but the person setting that goal doesn’t include one, they are implying a quantity of “at least one.” The importance of recognizing Quantity as a separate component from Action is that not meeting your Quantity does not diminish the success of achieving the Action.

In our example the Quantity is obviously ten sales. When April 30^th arrives and our goal setter sits down to evaluate his or her success, they may find they only made seven sales, or five, or even one. They could very easily fall into the trap of feeling they had failed in achieving their goal.

The important distinction for this person, and you, and me, to make is that they set out to make sales, and they did! They were successful in taking the Action they desired, even if they came up a little short on the quantity side. The appropriate step now is to reset the goal and work harder towards meeting the Quantity requirement.

The third component, and sometimes the most dangerous, is the Deadline.

This is the “when“ of your goal. Not all people include Deadlines in their goals, which can sometimes lead to problems. In the case of our example the deadline is April 30^th.The reason Deadlines can be so dangerous, is a lot of people have trouble separating them from the rest of the goal and moving forward.

Many people feel that if they set a goal and aren’t successful by the date they hoped for, then there’s nothing they can do. After all, if your goal is to make ten sales by April 30^th, and April 30^th comes and goes with just five sales, how can you keep trying? This type of thinking leads many people to despair and feeling that they have failed.

The answer lies in the fact that the Action makes up the main body of your goal, while the Quantity, Deadline and a fourth component we will discuss shortly can all be viewed as qualifiers for that action. They can be revised or temporarily set aside.

Let’s consider what happens to our example goal when only five sales are made and the online marketer starts getting down on him or herself about it.

Think about the fact that it is now May 1^st and only five sales were made. Not an ideal situation, but think about your goal without the Quantity attached. In our example goal, you would ask yourself the following question: “Did I make sales by April 30^th?” The answer is, obviously, yes. Try removing the Deadline. You are now left with the question “Did I make ten sales?” The answer to that question is very simply “Not yet.”

This is where Millionaires set themselves apart when it comes to goal setting. They recognize the value of a Deadline, but don’t give it control of their success. The same applies to Quantities.

The fourth component to a goal that is somewhat optional is the Method.

This is the “how” of your goal, and is generally the least included component. While not always necessary, if you are continually missing Quantities and Deadlines, consider adding a Method in your goal revisions. Remember, when you do not succeed at a goal, simply revise your qualifiers: Quantity, Deadline, and Method.

An example of how a method would fit into a revised version of our example goal is:

“I am going to make ten sales by June 30^th by placing more classified ads.”

In this revision, we have left the Quantity, because it is still something we can reach for, moved our Deadline to a date we can still reach and added a Method that will help provide focus for how to achieve our Action. If you are revising a goal that already includes a Method, consider adding additional Methods, or trying new ones.

Now that we have discovered the various components to effective goal setting, in a future post we will use them to create a goal from the ground up and further explore the value of a well built goal.