Becoming A Whole Person: Setting Achievement and Habit Goals
I love goals. Without them I probably wouldn’t get anything done. When I started running, I knew I wasn’t going to stick with it unless I set a goal. So, I did. I registered for a 5k in six months and started training. After that race, I set a new goal of running a 10k. So, I registered for another race and kept going.
After a few years of that, my running habit was set, and I didn’t have to set a specific goal anymore. Just what I call a habit goal. That may be a new concept for you, but I think it’s essential to becoming the leader and the person you want to be. Let me show you what I mean.
Achievement Goals
For years, I set what I call achievement goals. Goals with a start and finish line. Goals that get me somewhere I want to be. The best achievement goals follow the SMARTER goal framework. That is:
Specific - not broad or general
Measurable - includes an internal criterion by which progress can be evaluated
Actionable - begins with a verb
Risky - set high enough to demand your best effort
Time-keyed - assign dates but not the same date to each goal
Exciting - they should be fun to do
Relevant - in alignment with seasons of life, values and each other
So, for example. Let’s say you want to grow your ministry. Using the SMARTER Framework that goal would look like:
Grow my ministry by 10% in attendance by the end of the year by way of outreaches, invite campaigns, and improving my discipleship elements.
This goal is specific, measurable, exciting, and time keyed.
Setting goals with this framework gives you a much better chance of actually accomplishing them.
Setting Goals for our whole selves
But we can’t limit ourselves to just goals for our ministry. We are more than our work. We can’t forget to set them for the other aspects of our lives.
When I first started setting goals, there were solely focused on ministry. You can read about those here. But as my family grew, I realized that I needed to expand my goals to my whole person. I’m not just what I do. So, I started to set goals in two additional circles of influence, personal and relationships. I want to grow spiritually, physically, and intellectually. I want to steward my relationship with my wife and son. I want to see my ministry grow. Each of these circles need goals.
For example, I knew I wanted to grow spiritually. So I set a goal to read the Bible in a year. Here’s what that goal would look like in the SMARTER Framework.
Read the whole Bible in 2026 starting on January 1 using the Bible Recap daily reading plan.
Specific – read the whole Bible using the Bible Recap
Measurable – read the Bible daily, checking off each chapter
Actionable – Read
Risky – reading every day without fail
Time-keyed – starting on January 1
Exciting – reading the Bible and getting closer to God is always exciting
Relevant – the discipline of reading daily Bible reading is essential to Christian’s walk.
As you set your achievement goals for the year, you don’t want to set more than 10. I’ve tried to do 15 to 20 in a year. But many of them never happened. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or just forget you wanted to do that thing. To be fair, many years I haven’t even accomplished the 10! But I did get more done than I would have If I never set them to begin with.
Setting achievement goals is vital to a successful life, but I’ve learned that they’re not the whole picture. That’s when I discovered habit goals.
Habit Goals
Achievement Goals are great, but they don’t help you continue to be the person you want to be.
Let’s go back to the Bible reading example. That’s a daily reading goal that will take at least 15 minutes a day every day. You’re building habits and spiritual formation and getting closer to Jesus. All good things.
But what about next year? Do you set the goal again? Do you change it to just reading the New Testament? Do you skip the Bible reading all together?
That’s the rub. Achievement goals end. In order to maintain your Bible reading plan habit, you need to set another achievement goal. But if you limit yourself to 10 achievement goals a year, then you will be missing out on something else that might help you grow spiritually.
Finding myself in this conundrum, I realized I needed to change how I create my goals. Instead of just achievement goals, I also need habit goals.
Here’s the difference. Instead of the achievement goal of reading through the Bible in a year, I set the habit goal of reading the Bible every day. They still both meet the SMARTER goal framework, but one repeats while the other ends at a specific time.
Let me show you what I mean. The habit goal reads like this.
Read the Bible in the morning daily for at least 15 minutes.
Here’s what that looks like in the SMARTER framework
Specific – read the Bible daily for 15 minutes
Measurable – read the Bible daily, checking off each day I read
Actionable – Read
Risky – reading every day without fail
Time-keyed – in the morning
Exciting – reading the Bible and getting closer to God is always exciting
Relevant – the discipline of reading daily Bible reading is essential to Christian’s walk.
It still looks a lot like an achievement goal, but the biggest difference is time-keyed. Instead of it having a specific end date, the goal continues on and on.
These habit goals help you create your whole person. You’re not just a task completion machine. You’re a child of God. The habits we set in our lives create the person we want to be.
Getting Started with Habit Goals
So how do you set a habit goal? You can and should use the same SMARTER framework I’ve laid out in this post. But I suggest you start with an achievement goal first.
Many times, when we’re thinking about things we want to do, we don’t know if we’ll like it or even able to do it. The only way you’ll learn that is by trying it. So before trying to set a habit, set a small achievement goal first. Do it for a month, a quarter or even a whole year. I thought I’d like to do 100 push-ups a day. So, I set the achievement goal of getting to that number. But 4 weeks in, I realized I hated it. So, I abandoned that goal.
But if the goal turns out to be exciting and relevant, then you can turn it into habit goal. For example, after years of setting goals to run 5ks and 10ks, I realized that I could move those from achievement to habit goals. I knew I could continue to run those races if I just ran 3-5 times a week. So that’s what I did. Now, I have space to create more achievement goals. I’m becoming a whole person who is strong, healthy, and vibrant.
Setting goals is vital to your success as a leader and as person. They help you become the person you want to be and get you where you want to go. But you’re more than just tasks. You’re a whole person. Setting achievement and habit goals helps you become the person you want to be.
If you’re ready to become the person you want to be and have your best year yet, then you need to join my goals workshop on December 30. If that interests you, click the button below and I’ll send you more information!
