howtosetgoals.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe

You're listening to the MentalNotes podcast. In this episode, founder Scott Dow explains a powerful goal setting technique.

For most people, goals are like a cheap T-shirt. They look good when you buy them, but they shrink and they fade really fast. Long-term goals shrink because they're off in the distance. The farther away, the smaller they appear. And they fade because life gets in the way. We're pulled in different directions and new priorities pop up. I'm going to teach you to keep your goals from shrinking and fading. And I want to start with a quick story.

I had this buddy named Mitch, we call him Yoyo Mitch. And he's the most goal-oriented guy I know. Three or four times a year, he goes on this diet. He has his new year's diet, his beach diet and even his pre-holidays diet. Yoyo Mitch always meets his weight loss goal, but he always gains the weight back. He's great at achieving results. He'll do a cleanse, he'll do keto, he'll do crash diets, whatever it takes, he'll meet his goal. But he still has a weight problem.

So what does Yoyo Mitch have to do with you? Well, here's what. Most people spend their lives chasing the very same goals. Yoyo Mitch spends his life chasing the same weight loss result. He may achieve his weight loss goal, but his behavior still sucked. His habits never changed. He still has a weight problem.

Here's how you avoid being Yoyo Mitch. Make goals that don't shrink or fade. Now there are two types of goals. Outcome goals and process goals. Outcome goals refer to results. Process goals refer to behaviors. Outcome goals don't work, they shrink and they fade. An outcome goal serves one useful purpose. It's a guide for setting process goals, that's it. Outcome goals without process goals are a waste of time.

Outcome goals promote shortcuts and bad decisions. The ends justify the means. What if Yoyo Mitch fell a little short of his weight loss goal but adopted healthier eating habits? Wouldn't he better off? I think he would.

An outcome goal is just a snapshot in time. It's a horrible metric for success. It doesn't reflect any meaningful behavioral change. Process goals reflect behaviors over time. They promote sustainable habits, they become second nature, they create a brand new comfort zone and they help you grow.

Keep this in mind. High performers and low performers have the same goals. Low performers don't set out to underachieve. They want success like everyone else, they just keep coming out short. High performers use process goals to fundamentally change their behavior. They set daily and weekly behavioral goals that promote the end result. These behaviors become habits, and the habits become second nature. They hardwire healthy, productive, high-performing behaviors that lead to long-term success.

So how do you practice setting process goals? I want you to think of a simple goal. Now to achieve this goal, there's some behavior that needs to change. There's something you need to stop doing or there's something you need to start doing. Think of what those are.

Don't focus on infrequent behaviors. Focus on daily behaviors, little steps you can begin tomorrow. These become your process goals. These are goals you can track daily, you can achieve these goals daily, you can feel good about your daily achievements, and these daily achievements are going to help you build momentum. They'll build confidence. And most importantly, they'll build new habits. Habits you can build on over and over again. And the best news? These habits won't shrink and they won't fade.