Seven Types Of Goals That Take You To Success

Not all types of goals are created equal. The goal you set should be driven by the outcome you want to achieve. Here are the seven types of goals to lead you to success.

Leaders set goals. But they often set only one type of goal, and in so doing they set themselves up for failure. What you hope to accomplish drives the kind of goal that you need to set for yourself. Here is the complete tool kit of the different kinds of goals that you can set to be successful.

1) Achievement goals

Achievement goals describe results that you will have when you finish the goal and are clear in their intention. They outline a certain result or desired outcome that you would like to achieve, and they tell you what needs to happen for it all to work out just right. An example of an achievement goal is retiring with your million dollars at age 65 – you have set up targets and milestones so that when retirement day comes around, you know exactly how many steps remain on this long journey until your dream can be achieved! Most major goals are achievement goals.

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2) Action goals

Having an achievement goal gives you a goal for what you want to accomplish. An action goal is the goal for how you will get there. These goals describe a specific action that you will take to accomplish your achievement goal.

Let’s look at that goal to retire a millionaire at 65 years-old. That’s a fabulous goal, but you will need a plan to get there. Your goals might start off small, meet with a financial advisor, or set up a retirement account. It might be a bigger goal such as changing your job or being more aggressive in paying off your debt.

Action goals need to have a plan in place for how you will achieve them. They are specific and targeted, so your plan should be as well.

3) Layered goals

A layered goal is a list of goals that are ranked from top to bottom in order. For example, "Top Priority: Read one book each month." Another layer would be reading two books per month and so on until three books monthly which is the lowest priority or level for this task.

This technique helps you optimize your performance because it provides different levels of difficulty at varying degrees of time commitment accordingly with what suits your needs best! It also allows you to reach your goal while still stretching towards the next one.

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4) Rate goals

A rate goal specifies actions repeatedly done over time. That layer goal of reading a book a month starts out as a rate goal. Anything that you can measure with time is a rate goal; exercising three times a week, writing in your journal daily, drinking 64 oz of water are all rate goals.

Many personal growth activities can be performed as rate goals.

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5) Limit goals

Limit goals are there to help you set boundaries. While we are stretching and reaching with our goals, some goals are to stop doing things or to do less of them. Maybe you are spending too much money on books, so you set a limit goal to spend $30 a month on books and utilize the library more often. Setting a bedtime of 10 PM each night is a limit goal. Spending less than 50% of your online time on Facebook might be another limit goal. Oh, and if this is a goal of yours, Rooster is an awesome Chrome extension that will make it happen! It shows you how much time you are spending on various websites. Sometimes just seeing that can help your productivity.

6) Exclusion goals

Exclusion goals are things you are NOT going to do. Being home during the pandemic, the Oreos and I were getting along WAY too well. Every time I walked past the pantry, they were calling my name. So my daily goal is to stay away from cookies. I post this as a daily accountability goal on my Facebook group so that at the end of the day, I have to fess up as to whether or not the Oreos got me. That accountability makes it so that the Oreos stay where they belong, in the pantry and not in my belly.

Some other examples of exclusion goals are turning off the TV after 8 P.M., putting your cell phone when with other people, avoiding junk foods. These help you decide in advance which activities you will avoid.

When you are phrasing these goals, even though they are things you don’t want to do, you still want to phrase them in the positive. So instead of I will not watch TV after 8 PM, I will turn off the TV after 8 PM. You want to put in your brain what you WILL do to achieve your goal.

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7) Incredible goals

Incredible goals are highly optimistic, far fetched, or uncommonly aggressive. They are also goals you are unlikely to achieve, but that doesn’t mean you can’t strive towards them. Some examples include: Become CEO of a major corporation, write a best selling novel, or win a Nobel prize. These describe visions of ultimate success. If you set such goals, always supplement them with other more immediate and achievable goals that help you make progress toward these dreams. And while you might not reach your incredible goal, you will likely meet many goals along the way.

Different types of goals will help you achieve different outcomes. Over time, you will likely make all of these goals and achieve them! And if you would like more information on how to set goals, check out this post.