Commit To Habits, Not Goals

If you’ve read the title of this blog and find yourself wondering if I’ve abandoned my previous emphasis on setting goals to achieve a greater life please allow me to explain my business coach logic here. 

While goals are necessary for structure and motivation, a goal simply is not enough. Discipline is needed to achieve the goal itself.

In the past I’ve definitely stressed how important it is to set goals in order to succeed. Whether these goals be for your business, your F6 goals (Fun, Faith, Family, Finances, Friendship, and Fitness), or the other motivators in your life, goals can serve as a reminder of what’s important as well as the fuel needed to reach your next step towards success. So then, why would I as a business coach now say to commit to habits rather than goals? This is due to a handful of examples and wins I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing this week. I’ve learned the valuable lesson that while goals are necessary for structure and motivation, a goal simply is not enough. Discipline is needed to achieve the goal itself. See, as positive as goals are, more often than not people have a funny way of not sticking to them. They set one MASSIVE goal to accomplish and go into it thinking that as long as they believe it, they too shall achieve it. Well my friends that is only a small part of the equation. 

So then what’s the other side to this wonderful goal-achieving equation? Simply put, it is adopting the habits needed in order to actually stick to a goal and see it through to fruition. Simply setting a goal doesn’t ensure that it will be achieved. For instance, if I decided today that I wanted to set a goal to be a billionaire by the time I’m 30 years old I would also have to start committing to successful habits if I ever want to reach it. I couldn’t just sit around for the next 3 years doing nothing and magically hit my business coach goal by the time the deadline is up. However, that does sound pretty sweet… No, I’d have to come up with a profitable idea for a business, I’d have to come up with a plan to invest, and I’d have to get serious about saving and cutting costs. Now that I’ve identified my goal as well as action items needed to achieve it, I have to start committing to habit-forming behaviors that will make completing these actions doable and less likely to be avoided. I’d have to start scheduling time to work on my business, and once scheduled and followed through on it would become easier to do each and every day without motivation or reminders. I.E. it would become a habit. Forming a successful, healthy habit can better your chances of achieving each goal you set for yourself. 

The best way to set yourself on the path towards habit-forming activities is to begin with micro-habits.

If you wanted to become a habitual reader, you could simply start by dedicating 5 minutes per day to reading something. Anything. As long as you’re reading during the scheduled time. Therefore, as it relates to your goals, it’s important to focus on conquering the little things in order to build the necessary habits that will help you achieve your goals.