Having Evolution Goals

I’ve recently become aware of the idea of having evolution goals. As an alternative to having traditional goals, which are very concrete and ideally have a lot of details in them, evolution goals are more aspirational. It’s more like setting an intention that holds you accountable to pursuing life a certain way.

For example, you could have a health goal to lose 15 pounds in 45 days. That’s very tangible and from there you can brainstorm strategies to achieve it and commit to daily actions. An evolution goal is more along the lines of “to be in elite shape for my age”.

Or another example, you could have a goal with your partner to go for a vacation in the summer of 2023. Again, a specific goal that is clearly achievable. An evolution goal would be more along the lines of “to maximize the amount of love, intimacy, and connection I have with my partner.” The traveling accomplishes that in the short-term but the evolution goal is never fully realized.

That's because of the term being used here - evolution. An evolution goal isn’t necessarily something that is meant to be completed, it’s something that is dynamically updating as time goes on. You can certainly build out the short-term, more tangible goals that give a pathway toward your evolution goal. But even those goals will have to change as the seasons of life change, your capacity and interests change, and your expression of the evolutionary goal takes a new form.

Your evolution goal serves as the North Star that your life optimizes around. When you have clarity on who you want to be, how you want to exist, and what you want to prioritize, you can continue to reference that clarity as you navigate the immediate moments in front of you. It provides an extra lens of accountability to make decisions that are in alignment with the life you want to create.

It’s broad, I know, and maybe what I’m describing is called something else that you’re more familiar with, but ultimately I hope this perspective will help you live the life that you’re proud to live.