Good Goals vs. Bad Goals

Okay, I know what you’re thinking, “There’s no such thing as bad goals!” But there is. With everyone’s New Years resolutions coming up, it’s a good time to think about this.
Let’s imagine you make it a goal to learn Spanish. That’s a realistic goal, and who wouldn’t want to learn Spanish? It’s also really easy to say, “I’m gonna learn Spanish!”. It sounds so easy. But I promise it’s highly unlikely you will ever learn Spanish. You aren’t going to reach this goal because the reality of learning Spanish is having to spend an hour or two a day working on it. Studying. Memorizing. Forgetting. Relearning. Rinse and repeat.
That sucks.
So, look at it this way. Does “I’m going to spend an hour a day for the next 6 months learning to speak Spanish!” sound as fun and exciting as “I’m going to learn Spanish!” No, it doesn’t. The reality of what it takes to achieve the goal isn’t nearly as sexy as just blurting out that you’re going to do it.
That makes for a bad goal.
So, what’s a good goal? A good goal is something you’re so excited about, and so passionate about that nothing will stop you from achieving it. A goal that keeps you up all night working on it, then forces you to wake up at 7 am so you can get back to it. Good goals aren’t tedious. Don’t get me wrong. They still require blood, sweat, and tears. But if it’s something you’re truly passionate about, you won’t notice the pain.
With a good goal you’ll gladly say, “I’m going to spend 12 hours a day working on this. I’m not leaving the house, I’m not playing video games, I’m not doing anything but this until it’s complete.”
That’s a good goal.
There’s only a finite amount of time to dedicate to, and reach your goals. Choose wisely.

Dallas McLaughlin