Why I Don’t Believe in Goalsetting

Do you have a deep-seated belief, but you’re not sure where it came from?

I have passionately rejected the idea of goalsetting for more than 50 years, but I’ve never understood why I felt so deeply about it until just a moment ago.

Welcome to Sunday morning, November 29, 2020.

The word “goal” has a certain wishfulness attached to it.

“Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might…”

I do not believe in goals.

I believe in responsibilities.

I believe in decisions.

Which of the following is the more effective self-talk?

A: My sales goal this month is $200,000.

B: It is my responsibility to sell $200,000 this month. And I have decided to do it.

Goals do not change behavior.

Decisions change behavior.

(Yes, a goal can occasionally lead to a decision.

When that happens, focus on the decision, not the goal.)

Desire is rooted in the ego.

Identity is rooted in the heart.

Goals are produced by desire, what you want.

Decisions are produced by identity, who you are.

If your goal changes who you are, then you have made a decision to be a different person.

If what you want is more important than who you are, then you are an addict.

Alcoholics Anonymous is in the business of long-term behavior change. I find it interesting that they do not teach their members to focus on the goal of not drinking. They teach them to make a decision not to drink… one day at a time.

They emphasize the decision, not the goal.

Goals have attraction.

Decisions have consequences.

A goal aims your mind at a desire.

But your mind is easily distracted by desire after desire after desire.

When you make a decision, you pull the trigger and ride that bullet.

Decisions have consequences.

The Bible has an interesting passage in the second chapter of the book of James:

“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If you say to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but do nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”

Few things reveal a person’s identity like the tip they leave on a table.

If you leave a specific percentage, you are disciplined.

If your tip is determined by the quality of the service, you are a judge.

If you tip lavishly even when the service is bad, you are an encouragement.

Regardless of which of these people you have been in the past, you are only a decision away from being a different person in the future.

Roy H. Williams