Knowing Your Goal

Working to define your Primary Goal will allow you to work in various directions to determine the Why and the How behind each.

The Why is your reason for pursuing your Primary Goal. The How is the Consistency Goal that will lead you to achieve your Primary Goal.

You can know your commitments by your results, not by what you say your commitments are.

- 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

Primary vs Consistency

Your Primary Goal is the big picture.
It takes a long time to win.

Your Consistency Goal is a repeatable task that will get you to your Pimary Goal.
It lets you win every day.

Primary Goal: Buy a House
[-----------------------------------] Win

Consistency Goal: Save $ Every Month
[-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win]

Primary Goals

In the scheme of this goal-setting framework, your Primary Goal is the big outcome that you want to produce. Our three named goals are Primary Goals:

1. Do 10 Pull-ups
2. Save 0.1 Bitcoin
3. Get a Cool Girlfriend

A Primary Goal represents the proof-of-work that you want, after you apply your energy.

Primary Goal is Your Actual Objective

You can still win at life, even if you do not hit your target Consistency Goal. (look at sub goals & intentions)

Leave space for humanity, space to adjust. Be attached to the spirit of the goal, not the number.

Consistency is not your Primary Goal. Your Primary Goal is the output. Consistency is the input that produces the Primary Goal.

Grappling with the possibility of falling short on a longer consistency goal can be a mental struggle, especially the closer you are to achieving said goal- do you squeeze in some extra workouts in December, just to get yourself over the finish line? You have to reflect and fallback to your primary goal- if you are hiring fitness goals, you must shoot with the fact that Consistency in itself OSS not the goal. If you are achieving the outcomes you want, remember that Consistency is the input, not the output.

You consistency goal is the Why of your achievement.

Consistency Goals

When you break a Primary Goal down to a repeatable task (go to the gym, save $10, etc), you create a Consistency Goal. Add a start date, end date, and a target number of repetitions, and you have the full picture.

You consistency goal is the How of your achievement.

• repeatable task
• timeline
• target

"All we do is win, win, win, no matter what."

- DJ Khaled

Defining Your Goal

Clear or Murky?

Clear Goal

Clear Goals have definite true and false states. You can do 10 Pull-ups. You own a house. You can be 100% clear when achieve these goals. You either have 0.1 bitcoin, or you do not. Clear Goal has a clear end point, and possibly a long time from now till then.

Remove? Some goals could take _years_ or even _decades_ before they are fully realized, but the endpoint should be clear - there should be a before and an after.

Murky Goal

Murky Goals can be hard to put a point on. Get Fit. Be financially independent. Without a definite end point, you might not know when exactly this goal has been reached. "Get fit", "Be financially independent", or "Be popular with the ladies" are all similar to the list of Solid Goals, but it might be a bit more difficult to find the clear before and after point of the goal.

Whatever your goals - Hard or Squishy, this guide is here to step you through the process and create Consistency Goals that will lead you to achievement.

If your goal is Murky, consider doing the work to extrapolate your true Clear Goal from the Murky Goal. If your goal is "to be rich", you have a lot to gain by using the Get to Why exercise to turn your Murky Goal into a Clear Goal.

Why Pursue Your Primary Goal?

write it down. print it out. hang it on your wall.

When setting a goal, may have to work backwards from sub goal/intention

When you are feeling down or uninspired to follow your goal, turn to your Why. This is the reminder of why you created your goal commitment.

Ex: I want to get fit so that I am healthy and can play with my kids, so I can be with my wife, so I can be the "Fit Dad", and so I can set an example of health for the people around me.

Work Upwards Towards the Why

Your Why is the inspiration. It is the reason you want this goal. You will turn back to your Why when you feel doubt. When you feel silly. When you are bored and uninspired. Your Why will be what you hold on to through the hard days.

Why do you want this goal? Look to the higher calling that is pulling you towards your goal. Some might call this The Why - Why do you want to be able to do 10 Pull-ups? Why do you want 0.1 bitcoin? Why do you want a cool girlfriend?

Work Downwards Towards the How

Your How will establish your Consistency Goal. You will determine what action you are taking and the frequency of that action. It might be 200x in a year, 5x per week, 12x per day ... it all comes out of your Primary Goal and what will support your Primary Goal over time.

What are the smaller components needed Break those down into repeatable tasks or checkpoints Every Primary Goal (Get Physically Fit, Get a Girlfriend, Save 0.1 bitcoin) can be broken down into an easily repeatable task, which if executed, will ultimately result in success.

Clarity Enables Consistency

Being clear with yourself about what counts or does not count towards your Consistency Goal will help you achieve more. Be honest with yourself. If you go to the gym but only visit the concession stand, does it count as a workout? If you talk to your grandma on the phone, does that count as having a conversation?

Knowing what you need to do each day will help you feel positive and achieve your Primary Goal over the course of time.

Timeline

For a Consistency Goal, you should have clearly defined beginning and end. The end should be 1 year or less. If the timeline is undefined or too long, you risk losing focus or becoming overwhelmed by the sheer size of the undertaking. For now, keep your goals in the 3 month to 1 year range. 3 months is enough time to create a new habit and see results. 1 year is ample time for establishing a lifestyle or other big undertakings.

Starting at the beginning of the year is the obvious choice - January 1st creates a clear delineation, albeit manmade, of when a new you begins - But you can start a goal at any time. Beginning of any month works, but the your odds of winning may improve with a simple January 1 or July 1 start date.

Averages / Timeline

The longer your Timeline, the more you need to turn-down your expectations to execute over that Timeline. In an entire year you may encounter many different roadblocks - financial, physical, mental, scheduling, health, etc - and having a year-long consistency goal that is too aggressive ( such as "20 gym checking / month for 12 months" = 240/yr), can make it easier to give up in the middle of the year, because when faced with the realities of life the goal of 240 visits may become unattainable, because the rate of 20 visits/month for 12 months is just unsustainable in the face of everything that life could throw at you over a long period of time. Shorter goals (1-3 months) can be more aggressive in their averages. You are more likely to hit 20gym/month as a monthly sub goal, when you see that everything is clicking and the calendar lines up correctly.

How to track

Spreadsheet [sheetstr] [google docs] App Printout Calendar

• Set parameters. Before midnight? Before you go to sleep? What counts? How to rate