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The difference between goals and action plans

The flaws of some NY resolutions

This is the time (day? week?) of year when most people take a brief look at their lives, form a sentence that is supposed to destroy whatever vice that first popped into mind, and go on with their lives as usual. If you're like that - I will not be able to help you.  If however you're more serious about your resolution - read on.

I used to think that a statement such as "I will jog for 60 minutes every other day by the end of February" is a goal. This statements adheres to the S.M.A.R.T. guidelines, but it has several flaws:

• It doesn't recognize the need to achieve goal incrementally - starting small and building momentum to achieve ultimate effect. This can be fixed by phrasing the goal like "I jog every other day, increasing the time by 2 minutes daily and ultimately running 60 minutes by the end of February".
• It doesn't really convey any benefits (on it's own). If someone were ignorant of the health benefits of jogging, this single statement would not mean anything. If we want to be motivated to do something we must keep the benefits constantly in mind - a goal like the above might be hard to accomplish because we tend to loose track of the ultimate reasons for achieving the goal (the desired end result).
• It would be hard for me to integrate this into my self-image.
• Why are you jogging? To get fit? To get strong? Increase stamina? Lose weight?
• What if jogging doesn't work out? You could develop knee problems, be attacked by dogs on a regular basis or having a really uninteresting neighbor join you. What then - do you drop the whole goal and quit?

All of these are result of mistaking actions for goals.

• A goal is an end state in which your life changed in a desirable way, consistent with your self image.
• A goal is achieved by setting up:
  • reasons (why do I want this),
  • an action plan (how will I achieve this).

The immediate practical applications could be:

• Suppose we change
  "I jog every other day, increasing the time by 2 minutes daily and ultimately running 60 minutes by the end of February"
  to:
  "I am fit enough to allow me to jog for 60 minutes by the end of February"
  
• If something happens to disrupt your jogging schedule, you can work on your fitness levels in other ways. Also - you will be less likely to get bored this way because you are not limited to jogging.
• Maybe you will find a better way to get fit if you gain more knowledge about fitness in general. You can experiment with different training programs and measure which one works best for you.
• "I am fit and full of energy" seems to fit  better into my self image than just being a jogger.

Change actions to goals

This is a fairly easy process:

1. If your resolution is an action, look for the ultimate goal, write it down. The previous action will become part of your action plan.
   or
   If your resolution is already a goal (losing weight for example) don't do anything with it yet (maybe phrase it to be SMART)
2. List all the reasons for achieving the goal. This should be two lists: 10 benefits of achieving your goal and 10 painful consequences of not reaching it. This step is really important - ever since I started to integrate a list of reasons into my goal setting routine I've achieved far more than without them. The key is to really feel into the good (and bad) feelings that these hypothetical situations elicit.
3. Get some knowledge about the subject in question and formulate an action plan. Your first item might be already there.
4. Have daily habits to track the actions, revisit goals and action plans. Change them according to results. You may find a low tech way to keep track of goals in my previous post.

Do you have examples of transformed resolutions or other ways to better them? Let me know in the comments.

Related Posts

1. Goal software 101: Trait #3: Measurable actions
2. The best daily goal setting system ever