Action Goals Versus Achievement Goals
Happy New Year!!
I’m the kind of person who likes to make goals, especially at the New Year. It feels good to check things off the list. I remember talking to a friend awhile back who said they sometimes add items to their to-do list after they have done them just so they can have the satisfaction of checking them off the list. That’s how I am, too. 
In 2008, Laurel and I made a goal to write a journal entry every single day. And we have accomplished that! Wow, that’s the first time in a long time to have set a New Year’s Resolution and to keep it the entire year! It’s great to have a wife who helps you reach your goals.
This year I have been thinking about a distinction between two types of goals. I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of this, but my goal list has “action” goal and “achievement” goals. Action goals are those things you plan to do each day, week, month, etc. An example might be that you exercise 4 times per week. For lots of people, they are content with that and have the willpower to exercise for the sake of exercising. But for me, I need to also set an achievement goal–for example, to train for a half marathon. That gives me motivation to stay with my action goals.
Some people don’t like the pressure of trying to reach a particular achievement because they don’t want to feel disappointed if they don’t reach it. They want to do what they can control and are content with that. This reminds me of Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. He worked super hard preparing for many swimming events and is very talented, but it just so happened that he was beat in several races by the best swimmer of all time. If not for Michael Phelps, Lochte might currently have a few more gold medals. He probably reached all of his action goals, but it wasn’t quite good enough to reach the achievements he desired.
So I think it comes down to your personality, but it might be better to focus more on action goals because you have the most control over those. But if you’re like me, you still probably will set some achievement goals to give you a few stars you can aim for to keep you going.
What do you think?
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January 1st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I’ve been setting “action” and “achievement” goals for a long time. I usually just call them “yearly,” “monthly,” or “weekly,” goals, but I think they’re the same thing. I like the names you’ve given them. The action goals are very important intermediate steps to help you reach the achievement goals. You might be able to achieve great things without action goals, but you’re much more likely to achieve more with intermediate steps to get you there.