"My goal is to earn 1 million"

"My goal today is to finish this homework"

At first glance, it seems that the goal is quite clear and specific, but what if I tell you that goals like the above cannot be called goals at all?

Why can't a goal like the two answers above be called a goal? Because the above two answers made our most typical two types of goal-setting mistakes.

1. Take the result as the goal, 1 million is the result.

2. Treat the means as the goal, and homework is the means.

So what exactly is the goal?

First of all, the goal is a certain state that we hope to achieve. For example, we want to become healthier. Health is a state. We want to have a stronger ability to earn money. It is also a state of us. When we determine our goals, we should first Think of goals as a qualitative description, and there is a certain positive value in this qualitative description. For example, the aforementioned "health" is a positive value, and the stronger "stronger earning ability" is also a positive value.

What is the result

The result is a quantification of the goal, and the purpose of the result is to help us judge whether the goal has been achieved.

For example, I hope that it is our goal to become healthier. This year, we can set the number of illnesses to be no more than 3 times, the body fat rate to reach x%, etc. When we reach these values, we can determine our goals. Done, we can understand the relationship between results and goals through such a question, when you reach that number, you can show that you achieved your goal.

Judgment Test

Going from goal to result is a process that tests our judgment very much because finding a reasonable quantitative indicator for our goal will test our ability to focus on key points. For example, if we set such a goal, I hope this year will be more healthy, then We need to find a series of indicators to describe the state of health.

For example, the number of visits to the hospital this year is no more than 3 times, and the number of times of illness this year is 0. Obviously, it is easy to find that the first indicator that the number of visits to the hospital no more than 3 times is not very good. Just because I didn't go to the hospital doesn't mean I'm not sick.

The result is a description of the target value

We often feel at a loss when setting results. The most fundamental problem is that we do not understand the value of the goal.

For example, as I mentioned in the previous example, if my goal is that I want to have a stronger ability to earn money, then the value contained in this goal is usually in the vague word "stronger", our so-called Quantification is a quantification of words like "stronger," "better," and "faster."

In this example, suppose we set a key result: earn 1 million this year, then we need to think further, does earning 1 million really mean that my earning ability is stronger? What does the stronger in the "stronger" earning ability mean? If I spend 10 million but only earn 1 million in the end, is this ability considered strong?

So, after further analysis, we can know that in this example, "stronger" may be more appropriate to use ROI to describe, for example, my input-output ratio reaches 2 this year, for example, I spend 100 yuan, and finally can Earn 200 bucks back.

This example here aims to illustrate that we need to analyze and set key results by ourselves. There is a general principle for the setting of key results, that is: first, then optimize.

For example, in the previous example, we can first make earning 1 million as our key result, and when we earn 1 million, we can set the key result to a higher production ratio.

Actions are how we achieve our goals

To achieve a certain goal, then we must take action to achieve it. We cannot write the goal and then sit on the sofa at home. After a year, our goal has been achieved.

We continue to use the example of making money to illustrate, our goal is, I hope to have a stronger ability to make money this year, based on this goal, we set a key result, such as making money to 1 million, when you set the earning ability After the money reaches 1 million, you need to find a way to make yourself achieve this result. What needs to be emphasized here is that our actions need to be found within the constraints of our goals. What does that mean?

That is to say, when we specify an action plan, we can’t just look at the results. We need to look at our goals all the time. For example, our key result is to make 1 million dollars. We can do it through the following behaviors.

1. Robbery Bank

2. Open a clothing store

I don't know if you have found the difference between these two actions?

Robbing a bank does not prove that your earning ability has become stronger, robbing a bank is not making money.

And opening a clothing store is a way to make money. It can be used as our action plan. I believe that a keen friend may have discovered it. Why should we not make the result our goal?

Because if the result is our goal, then we may be unscrupulous in the process of reaching the result. In this example, we will make 1 million as the goal, and the actions to achieve this goal are robbery, gambling, etc.

But we only get better when we aim for better-earning ability, and earning 1 million just reflects our ability to earn better.

Hopefully, I have made clear the difference between goals, outcomes, and means.