3 Types Of Goals

One of the most helpful things to do for your personal development is set goals. When you have a goal it orients your behavior so that you can take action in ways that are most meaningful for you. Goals give you a lens to view your choices through to see if they’re helping you make progress toward what you want or not.

The most traditional type of goal is an ‘Outcome Goal’. This is an outcome or result that you want to achieve as a byproduct of your efforts. These are things like losing a certain amount of weight, increasing your income, or landing 3 speaking opportunities. Whether you achieve an outcome goal or not is usually out of your control, although there are things you can do to increase the likelihood that you achieve.

Then there are ‘Process Goals’. These are goals that relate to your own effort, output, and action. If the ‘Outcome Goal’ is to lose weight, then the process goal is to “eat less than 1800 calories a day” or “do 30 minutes of cardio 4 times a week”. They’re the clearly defined input that you can control with hopes that you get the results you’re after. For that reason, ‘Outcome Goals’ and ‘Process Goals’ often go together. The ‘Process Goal’ serves as your strategy for achieving the ‘Outcome Goal’.

Then finally, a type of goal that you’ve maybe never heard about before, are ‘Evolution Goals’. These aren’t as objective or binary as other goals, they represent a certain intention. Rather than them being something you can objectively pursue, they represent a reality that you’re constantly pursuing. Examples of ‘Evolution Goals’ include “to always be capable of living an active lifestyle”, “to maximize the contribution I make in the world”, "to always seek to increase the love an connection in your marriage", or “to be as knowledgeable of a teacher as possible”. The destination is blurry, but the direction is clear.

Whether it’s an ‘Outcome Goal’, a ‘Process Goal’, or an ‘Evolution Goal’ - When you have goals in place they serve as a guide for your daily choices. They represent what you consciously want at the level of awareness you currently have. And if you become aware of something new and realize you want something else, then adjust your goal. That way it can always be a force that positively influences you on your path forward toward being the best person of which you are capable, and finding fulfillment in life.