You want to set some goals, but you aren’t sure where to start. You wonder what even defines a goal as good. Well, let’s talk about it. We’ll start by assessing your goal-setting skill and we’ll talk about the two different types of goals and how they support each other. Then we’ll have a chat about two different ways you can evaluate your goals to make sure that they’re good. We’ll close out by talking about what to do if you’re totally stuck and don’t know what goal to set.

 

 

Let’s talk about goal-setting skills.

 

 

How is Your Goal-Setting Skill?

People often think that goal setting is something that they should just be able to do. And those people are often wrong. Goal setting and goal achievement are skills that require cultivation. Yes, you could arbitrarily toss out what equates to a meaningless nice idea and say that it’s a goal. But you know it’s not a true goal. So, how do you go about assessing and improving your goal-setting skill?

 

Well, how often do you sit down and consciously craft goals? If the honest answer is not very often, or it’s been a long time, treat yourself like a beginner, and give yourself the patience that a beginner deserves.

 

 

If the honest answer is that you often craft goals but they don’t feel meaningful, or they feel too ambiguous, or they seem like a nice idea but end up being too much of a stretch, it’s good that you’re attempting to give yourself direction. That’s great. But you need some work on developing your goals. Good thing you’re here.

 

If, however, you consistently set and achieve goals that make sense in your internal and external world, well, you likely don’t need this article. Move along and do something else with your time. 

 

Folks in the first two camps, let’s continue on.

 

Consider any skill, or set of skills, you’ve developed. There is a progression that begins with the least amount of complexity and progresses to the greatest amount of complexity. You learned to read and write by memorizing each letter of the alphabet. Then you learned words. After that, you learned how to structure those words into sentences. Then came paragraphs. Then came pages. Then came expressing an entire complex thought, or series of thoughts, in something such as an essay. You practiced a whole lot along the way.

 

Goal setting works exactly the same way just with a different progression of complexity. Instead of learning to use symbols to represent things, ideas, and concepts, you’re learning to meaningfully use time to plan actions and outcomes. The longer the time span, the more complexity. The more layered the actions, the more complexity. The bigger the outcome, the more complexity.

 

So, to build goal-setting skills we start with shorter time frames, simpler actions, and smaller outcomes. Shorter, simpler, and smaller all lend themselves to something that creates big outcomes: lots of practice. Here’s a great way to practice.

 

Start with a segment of a workout and consider what you’d really like to accomplish during it. Maybe it’s a strength segment that calls for squats and you’d like to become a better squatter. So, you ask yourself, or your coach, what is one thing you could do to improve your squats during that workout. Once you have your answer, you focus on that action every time you squat during that workout. You pay attention and ask yourself for feedback, or you ask the coach to give you feedback at the end of the workout. Chances are you’ll have improved.

 

In this hypothetical, you set a goal for a short time frame, with a simple action, and a small outcome. You practiced goal setting and goal achievement which has a real impact on your training and the rest of your life. Now, imagine if you did that during every workout segment for a week. You’d get much better at assessing what would be meaningful, turning it into a goal, and working toward achieving that goal. 

 

As you practice short-term goals, add complexity by adding time. Set a goal that takes you an entire week to achieve. Maybe you’d like to attend four gym sessions; maybe you’d like to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. Maybe you’d like to practice a post-work ritual that makes you more present with your family when you get home. No matter what it is, make it a simple action with a small outcome you can build on. 

 

A process like this helps you grow in goal-setting skill, which gives you the competence and the confidence to project yourself further into the future to set bigger, more complex goals. Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t set down some bigger, more long-term goals now. But as you do it, practice this short, simple, small process. 

 

Let’s move on to chat about two different types of goals.

 

 

Process Goals and Outcome Goals

Goals fall into these two categories: process or outcome. I alluded to each in the previous section. We’ll clearly define them in this one. 

 

Process goals are a commitment to do a particular action at a regular interval. For example, stating that you’ll do a one-minute mobility routine every morning while your coffee brews for one month. You’re building the mobility routine process into your life. These goals are designed to build consistent, positive habits. While they often produce positive outcomes, the focus is on the doing, not on a specific outcome.

 

Outcome goals, however, are about one-time achievements. For example, stating that you’ll run a 5k in 25 minutes on April 1, 2024. They’re great because they give you something specific at which to aim. The thing will happen on the given date, or it won’t. And these goals are typically designed to stretch you; they make you at least a little nervous. That’s a good thing.

 

Process goals are often necessary to support outcome goals. Let’s continue on with the 5k example. To run that 5k time you’ll need to, well, run. So, you establish a process goal that has you running every weekday morning at 6AM. We don’t need to discuss the specifics of the running program here. It’s enough to say that you’ve committed to a process that grows you in skill and fitness. If, however, you set an outcome goal without an underlying process goal, it’s less likely that you’ll achieve your desired outcome.

 

Begin by asking the question, which behaviors will help me achieve my desired outcome? The answers get culled down until you establish the process goal that’s most practically effective. Practical because you can and will do it. Effective because it helps you make progress. When you find that meaningful action, you focus on it and you do it.

 

Something funny happens when you focus on the process instead of the outcome. You make more progress over the long term. You deal with life as it happens, and you engrain behaviors that allow you to accumulate wins over time. And you have a better shot at actually achieving the outcome you’re after.

 

But then something even funnier happens. As you keep acting on your process goal, it feels good. The process becomes more important than the outcome. You enjoy the doing. It becomes part of you. You transform not because of the feat you’re chasing, but because you’ve become a different person by consistently acting over time. It’s an incredible realization that’s slow to emerge, but when it hits you, my God does the world ever make sense.

 

Then you accomplish the outcome, and you transform once again.

 

Outcome goals have an associated danger I call the now what  phenomenon. You hit the goal, and then there’s an empty space on the other side of it that you’re not sure how to fill. You end up aimless and wandering. Not sure what to do, what to chase, you don’t do anything.

 

That’s why it’s so important to create processes that support outcomes or to mainly focus on processes. The doing engrains itself into who you are. This wards off the danger of aimlessness. So, think in a balance of processes and outcomes. When in doubt, set process goals instead of outcome goals. When in doubt, let go of the outcome and focus on the process.

 

There is another way to combat the now what phenomenon while also determining the quality of the goal you’re setting. Examine it via your values.

 

 

Examining Your Goals: Values 

Most of the world does its best to convince you that you should aim mainly at happiness and contentment. Of course, who doesn’t want to feel happy and content? Neither, however, extends well across time. Happiness is fleeting. Contentment ebbs and flows. But meaning, that is something we can consistently rely on.

 

A sense of meaning grows out of our values. We experience a deep sense of meaning when we act in line with our values and see that the action moves us closer to the person we’d like to become. We are human; when we are healthy, we have an innate drive to improve things, namely ourselves. When we experience inertia that holds us in place, or if we falter in pursuit of a goal, it’s often because we are acting outside of our values, or because we don’t truthfully value the thing we’re pursuing. The pursuit and the outcome aren’t nested in our values. That’s also a reason why people experience the now what phenomenon. They accomplish the goal only to fall prey to strong inertia because the thing they did wasn’t meaningfully embedded in their values or connected to a future identity that they value. There was no throughline to carry them into the next act.

 

I understand that explanation is a bit heavy, but it’s necessary. I’ll offer a personal illustration to make it digestible. Here’s one of my 2024 goals and how it’s nested in my values.

 

The first physical goal I set for this year is to boulder a v4 at SportRock. A v4 is an intermediate climbing problem that takes about five months of consistent skill development to conquer. I’m currently able to boulder up to some v2 courses. But mostly v0 and v1 – the easy shit.

 

 

At first glance, the goal might seem arbitrary – as all goals are to some degree. But it’s nested in my values of self-reliance, consistency, learning, and skill development. And it was brought on by a dangerous situation during which I couldn’t fully rely on myself because I wasn’t prepared.

 

I was climbing down a mountain in Alaska. Dusk was falling and I was in a dense, wet forest along the south-central coast. Foot and hand holds were slippery and difficult. I wore a 60-pound backpack loaded with my hunting and camping gear. The area was densely populated with brown bears. The situation was muy, muy picante. 

 

I got stuck in the midst of climbing down. Clinging to the dirt and rock, I didn’t know how to position myself to make my next move. It was getting darker. My hunting partner and I were in a dangerous situation (one that we truthfully shouldn’t have been in). He was farther down the mountain, and I yelled to him that I was stuck. I didn’t know what to do. He climbed back up and walked me through the next steps to take. I navigated the steps and made my way down. But it bothered me that I didn’t have the knowledge and skill to think through, and solve, the problem by myself. I couldn’t rely on myself because I didn’t learn what I needed to know, and I didn’t have the skill to carry out my knowledge. I also value being the person that people depend on, not the one dependent on other people. I was fully dependent in that moment, and I hated it. (Yes, I understand that we all need to lean on each other from time to time.) 

 

So, I set a goal to help me live out those values in the future. I’m certain that I’ll be in another situation in the backcountry where climbing skills are necessary. When the situation arises, I’ll be prepared.

 

But what about consistency and why a v4? Well, I’ll need to train consistently for half the year to acquire the necessary skill to climb a v4. That time frame leaves room for me to set other goals for the back half of the year, and to give myself buffer time should anything happen that knocks me off track. It’s also in line with the normal progression of climbing skill. That means I’d be on track to increase my skill and solve more complex climbing problems.

 

All of this congeals to create a deep sense of meaning for me. I won’t always be happy when I’m climbing, and I won’t be content as frustrations and setbacks stifle me. But I’ll struggle forward in the name of my values. That makes it all meaningful and worthwhile. And should I do all I want with climbing, I won’t fall prey to the now what phenomenon because I have my values to direct me toward the next process and the next outcome.

 

I understand not everyone has a “stuck on the mountain in Alaska” story. But you do have values. You know what’s important to you and to the future version of yourself you want to become. Pause and ask yourself if the goals you want to achieve are in line with your values, or how they can align with your values. You’ll create better processes, and you’ll fight off the now what phenomenon.

 

(It’s also important to note that I enjoy climbing. An element is helpful.)

 

There’s another great tool for evaluating the quality of your goals and for maintaining progress after achieving them: The CCC Filter.

 

 

Examining Your Goals Part 2: The CCC Filter

Commitment. Consistency. Challenge. Those are the three C’s.

 

They are also the core tenants of what it means to Live Physically in the Beyond Strength world. And great for determining the quality of a goal. 

 

As you craft and consider a goal, ask yourself:

 

Does this goal truthfully inspire or require that I commit?

Will this goal drive consistent action?

Does this goal truly challenge me?

 

If you answer no to these questions, you likely need to improve the quality of the goal. Now, don’t start asking yourself these questions until you’re beyond the initial skill-building phase mentioned earlier. If you’re still in that phase, you just need reps with goal-setting, acting, and achieving. This is for those crafting longer-term goals.

 

This section isn’t very complicated. You’ll ask yourself the C questions in relation to your goal and honestly answer. If yes, carry on. If no, edit and improve the goal or choose another.

 

 

Exploration: What if You’re Just Not Sure Which Goal to Set?

What if you’re just not sure what in the hell you want to do. That’s okay. One of the beautiful things about goals is that they are often emergent. That means when we’re in the midst of doing, we learn and experience in a way inspires us into a pursuit. Sometimes you just have to explore. Sometimes you just have to try shit out. It’s okay to be in that phase. We’ve seen it a lot with Beyond Strength members throughout the years.

 

Here’s how it goes:

 

They come in with some kind of aesthetic goal. They want to lose weight. They want abs. They want a dump truck for a backside. You know how it goes. There’s not a person on the earth that doesn’t want people to want to do them. 

 

But as they consistently train with us, things change. They see what training does for them physically, mentally, and emotionally. They see their abilities growing; they stop thinking so much about that dump truck and they want to see what their body can do. Can they deadlift twice their body weight? Can they row 2000 meters in 7:00? Can they climb a fucking mountain?

 

So, if you’ve read up to this point and judged yourself for not being sure what you want to do, stop judging yourself. It’s a normal place to be. All you have to do is explore and pay attention. Do things and when something strikes you, capture it. Give it shape and direction as a goal that aligns with your values, passes the CCC filter, and, maybe, is just a little fun.

 

Keep in mind that all behavior is goal-driven. You don’t do anything without a goal in mind. You stand up and walk to the kitchen because you want a drink. That’s a goal. You watch your favorite TV show because you like how it makes you feel. That’s a goal. Humans are goal-directed critters. Explicit goals just take time, attention, and practice. If you’re not good at it yet, that’s cool. You will be if you keep working at it.

 

 

How to Set a Good Goal

Begin by recognizing that setting goals is helpful for structuring and organizing your life and priorities. Then, practice a whole bunch. Consider outcomes that are meaningful to you and then build processes that move you toward that outcome. As you get deeper into the process, pay attention to it and realize that the magic is in the doing, not the achieving. Examine it all through the scope of your values and the CCC filter. And don’t worry if you’re not there yet. Explore and pay attention. Realize that all behavior is goal-driven. Explicit goals just take a minute sometimes. You’ll eventually find one.

 

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