The Difference Between Goals & Desires - & How To Win Them All

Understanding the Difference

There's no denying the value and power goal setting has on our lives - personally, professionally, as well as intellectually, and emotionally.  It's been proven that when we set goals, we're more likely to achieve them.

There's a significant difference between a goal and a desire.

Understanding that distinction will have an impact on how you set about achieving your goals and designing the life YOU love. 

 

 

A Goal is something you're willing to work to achieve and it's something that you have complete control over.

A Desire, on the other hand, is something you really want to have or do, but you may not have complete control over achieving or obtaining it.

 

 

Some Examples to Illustrate:

Perhaps you decide to avoid white bread and pasta for a month to support your health goals.  Since no one can force you to eat penne on Sunday, you have complete control of this situation and you've set yourself an achievable goal.  

Running 5 kilometers a day, 5 times a week to become more healthy and fit - that's a goal since you're in complete control of the outcome. 

On the other hand, if you're going to the cottage for 2 weeks in August and you'd love to enjoy good weather, you can't set a goal for there to be only good weather for those specific 14 days in August.  

You desire favourable weather and there's a possibility the sun will shine during your vacation, but it's not something you can control, so it's a desire. 

Living Your Life By Design

Goalsetting is a success principle that means the difference between living your life by default, simply moving through it, and reacting to whatever comes your way, as opposed to living your life by design - consciously shaping each day, week, month, and year. 

Want to design the life you love?  

Start by setting some goals for yourself and you'll be amazed at what you achieve. 

How to do it:

Step 1 - Pick Your Target

It starts with figuring out what it is that you want.  Want to achieve something awesome?    What is it for you?

• Become Debt Free
• 
  Start a New Business
• Find Your Soul-Level Love Match
• Lose the baby weight
• Start a family
• Travel
• Become an Author or Artist
• Master an instrument
• Whatever you want

Step 2 - Write It Down 

It's been proven that people who write down their goals are infinitely more likely to achieve them.

Make a list, get a notebook, start a Goalsetting Journal, whatever works for you, but put your goal into words somehow. 

Step 3 - Set Your Sights - Make Your Goals SMART-ER

To ensure your goals are something you'll achieve, put some thought into them.  Work on them a bit.  Make your target SMARTER.

SPECIFIC - Be precise about what you want to achieve

MEASURABLE - This helps you know progress is being made

ACTIONABLE - The actions you can take to take to reach your goal

REALISTIC - Big goals become more achievable broken down into smaller goals

TIMEBOUND - Give it a target, a deadline - something to shoot for 

EVALUATE - Check your Progress along the way.  What's working? What's not?

READJUST - As you move closer to your goal, adjust your approach as necessary.

 

Step 4 - BECOME

Living your life by design, and consciously making progress toward your big life goals, may mean you'll have to stretch a little. 

You may have to learn something new to become the person you'll need to be to achieve your goal.  

So, set about researching, gaining information, and expanding your knowledge. 

Here's an example.  If your goal is to become 100% debt-free, but you have $30,000 in consumer debt, no savings and you're carrying a hefty mortgage, you're going to have to learn a thing or two about creating a prosperity plan for yourself.  

You'll have to

1. Change some spending habits
2. Learn how to support yourself on less of your total income
3. Create a plan that'll work for you to methodically eliminate your debt to reach zero 

You may need to take a course, read some books, and listen to some lectures to become that person who deserves that goal.  

With the power of the internet and all the cumulative knowledge of humanity at your fingertips - you're easily on your way!

There are a LOT of steps to your goal to become debt-free.  BUT I can tell you this much for sure: there's no feeling like the FULL BODY exhilaration you'll experience on the day you make that final payment!! 

Psssttt...and I recommend it!  Get busy!!

Step 5 - Celebrate Your Wins

There is NO substitute for creating the life you absolutely love - YOUR Masterpiece Life and it's important to enjoy the process along the way.

Celebrate those wins - the tiny ones along with the big milestones - as you move closer to achieving your goals and creating the life you love. 

Now it's your turn:

I'd love to know

1. What area of your life would you like to begin improving first?
2. What is the big mountaintop goal - what do you ultimately want to achieve?
3. What smaller, stepper-goals will you need to reach along the way?

Share your comments below or... if you'd like some personalized help setting up a plan to achieve that thing you want, I have this 

Gift for you

If you'd like some help breaking your big life goals down into action steps and creating a plan to achieve them all, I'd love to help.  

Contact me today to schedule your

Zero Cost Rapid Results Strat-Chat.

andrea@coachforlife.ca

About the Author:

Andrea Raco is passionate about helping women design and build the life or business they love.  

She's a Certified Success and Life Enrichment Coach, the Founder of Coach for Life, and the Curator of Gold Key Club - a private online community for women making a difference in the world with their unique talents and gifts.  If you'd like to join her community, let her know - it's entirely free.

For more information about services and programs and how she can help you design your Masterpiece Life or a business you love, visit www.coachforlife.ca, send a private message or e-mail to andrea@coachforlife.ca