Having goals is great. But if your goals have no meaning or don’t serve a valuable purpose, you are as good as having no goals.
Most people know what they want, and some even have a crystal-clear goal. But unfortunately, most of them fail to achieve them. And why is that?
Because their goals have no meaning.
Think about it, you can set a specific goal according to the SMART goal concept, but if the goal doesn’t serve a purpose, you will never have the motivation to work on it.
Your goals are not just about numbers. And your goals shouldn’t be just about a target to pursue.
- If you are driving a 10-year-old car, your goal can be to change it to a new car this year.
- If you are earning $5,000 a month, your goal can be to earn more, like $10,000 a month.
- If you are overweight, your goal can be to get back in shape and become fit.
And you know what, these goals are clear and specific, but if they are NOT meaningful to you, guess what, you will never take action to achieve them.
When a goal is not meaningful to you, you will find it extremely difficult to come up with the drive, motivation, and excitement to work on them.
This is why setting a meaningful goal is so important.
When something is meaningful and important to you, you will do whatever it takes to get it. Period.
Hence, my friend, make your goals meaningful. And how do you do that? Well, here are 3 ways how you can do so…
1. Set a bigger goal that stretches your comfort zone
“Big goals get big results. No goals get no results or somebody else’s results.”
Mark Victor Hansen
The first way to make your goals meaningful is to make them big. 10X your goals. Set goals that excite you and make you want to jump out of your bed every morning.
You want to set big goals that will stretch you beyond your comfort zone.
Think about it, if you are earning $5,000 a month, how exciting can it be to earn an additional $100 per month?
I bet you will not go all out just to earn an additional $100, right?
On the contrary, when you think about doubling or even 10X your income, just imagine how your life can change.
If you are earning $5,000 a month, just think about how earning $50,000 a month will do to your lifestyle. How is your life going to change? Are you going to move to a new and bigger house? How about driving your dream car? Or take your family to Hawaii for a month’s vacation?
Read: Are Your Goals Too Small? The 5 Telltale Signs
You see, when the goal you set is big and exciting, everything changes. You will never treat a big and meaningful goal the same as every other goal.
Big goals that are exciting and meaningful are sacred. You’d wake up early to work on them. You’d push yourself to do something extraordinary just to accomplish them.
Imagine your goal is to make space travel possible. Your mission is to colonize Mars and bring your friends and family along with other people to stay on the red planet.
If that is something you truly look forward to, you will feel excited whenever you think about it. This is what excites Elon Musk every morning.
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great – and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”
Elon Musk
You can see these inspiring words from Musk on SpaceX’s mission page.
Therefore, to make your goals meaningful, you need to make them big and exciting.
Read: How to Dream Big and Start Small
2. Make your goal a mission to serve and help others
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Zig Ziglar
The second way to make your goals meaningful, which is also the most important, is to make them a mission to serve and help others.
When your goal is not just about you, you will be more willing to take action and go the extra mile to achieve it.
In his best-selling book, Give and Take, Professor Adam Grant and his team experimented with a group of paid employees at a university’s call center.
These employees were required to cold call for a fundraising campaign and asked for donations. They don’t get high pay and they have to face many rejections.
During the experiment, Grant and his team brought the employees to meet with the students who received scholarships from the fundraising campaign. They got to interact with the students and asked the students about their lives and studies for just 5 minutes.
But that 5 minutes interaction brought a significant change.
After the interaction, the group of employees spent twice as much time on the phone and brought in more donations from their fundraising call, showing a 271% improvement in performance!
The reason is simple. When the group of employees found out how their work is positively impacting the students’ lives, they worked harder.
Similarly, when your goals are serving and helping others (becoming meaningful), you are more likely to work on them.
This is why you should turn your goal into a mission to serve, help, and leave a positive impact on others.
Your goal should NOT just be about you.
Read: Why Clarity of Purpose is Important to Success and How to Get It
If your goal is to improve sales or earn more money, think about how you can give back to the world, or how it can help others along the way.
Your goals can only be meaningful when they are making the world a better place or are positively impacting others.
Read: How To Live Life With Passion And Purpose
3. Make the journey transformative
“The point of having a goal is not just about achieving them. It is also about transforming yourself and becoming someone better in the journey.”
Shawn Lim
People often say success is not a destination, but a journey. And that’s right, success is not about the outcome, it is about the journey and becoming who you are.
Bruce Lee once said…
“A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at.”
If you want to set meaningful goals, you need to make the journey transformative.
You have to understand that you don’t get what you want, but you get WHO you become.
Think about Michael Jordan and his goal of winning the championships. His goal forces him to train hard and along the journey, Jordan became one of the best basketball players of all time.
The same goes if you want to build a successful business. You must transform yourself, learn the necessary skills, and develop the right habits, mindset, and character, and only then you can build and grow a successful business.
It is NOT about the goal. It is about YOU.
When you become better, you will get better results.
Most people fail to achieve their goals because they don’t change for the better. They stay where they are. They refuse to venture out of their comfort zone. They don’t improve themselves.
And that is why they are stuck and eventually, fail to reach their goals.
Think about it, if you want to earn $10,000 a month, you must develop the $10,000 a month mindset, character, and skill.
If you want to earn $100,000 a month, then you must develop the $100,000 a month mindset, character, and skill.
“The size of the problem is NEVER the issue, what matters is the size of you.”
Harv Eker
When you transform yourself and become better, you can achieve bigger goals that become more successful.
Thus, to make your goals meaningful, make sure your goals are able to transform you on the journey.
Read: 10 Practices How to Improve Yourself Every Day
Takeaway
So, these are the 3 ways you can make your goals meaningful. And when your goals are meaningful, you will become committed to achieving them.
Remember…
- Set bigger goals that excite you and make you want to jump out of bed every morning.
- Turn your goals into a mission that serves and helps others.
- Your goals must transform you into someone better.
When your goals fulfill these 3 characteristics, you will be living a meaningful life pursuing a meaningful ideal.
If you want to learn how to set empowering goals and achieve them, join me in Goal Setting Formula masterclass.