Excelerated Goal Setting™ isn’t about cramming more accomplishments into your life. It’s deciding where you want your life to go. Maybe you don’t know yet. That’s OK. Start broad. Dream a little bigger. Then get specific.
[Title Photo by Aknarin Thika]
Sarah was busy.
Very busy.
Her calendar was full. Her to-do list was overflowing. She volunteered, exercised when she could, took care of things around the house, helped family members, met friends for lunch, attended meetings, ran errands, and tackled an impressive assortment of projects. Most evenings she could look back and say, “I got a lot done today.”
But one evening, Sarah found herself asking a different question: Where is all this taking me?
She had been moving all day. In fact, she’d been moving for years. But toward what?
Sarah realized that while she had plenty of activities, she didn’t have a destination. She was busy. She was productive. But she wasn’t intentionally heading anywhere in particular.
And that’s when she decided she needed a goal.
Four Ways to Think About Goals
In The ONE Thing, Gary Keller and Jay Papasan describe four ways of framing the questions we ask about what we want to accomplish. They can be:
Small and Broad.
Small and Specific.
Big and Broad.
Big and Specific.
Although Keller and Papasan are technically describing different kinds of questions, the framework gives us a useful way to think about our goals as well.
A small and broad question might generate ideas but doesn’t give us much direction.
A small and specific question gives us a clear target, but it may not take us very far.
A big and broad question expands our thinking, but without specificity we may not know where to begin.
A big and specific question gives us both a destination worth pursuing and a target toward which we can move.
Sarah, although she didn’t know it yet, was about to work her way through all four.
Small and Broad: “I Want to Get in Better Shape”
Sarah started with her health. “I want to get in better shape,” she decided.
Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it sounded like a pretty good goal. Except . . . what did it mean?
Exercise more? Lose weight? Get stronger? Improve her endurance? Sleep better? Eat differently?
“I want to get in better shape” pointed Sarah in a general direction, but there was no destination. That’s the problem with a Small and Broad goal. It may be useful for brainstorming. It gets you thinking. But it’s difficult to know whether you’re making progress because you haven’t defined what progress means.
Sarah could take a walk tomorrow and technically be “getting in better shape.” But how much walking? How often? Toward what?
So Sarah tightened the goal.
Small and Specific: “I’ll Walk Three Days a Week”
Her new goal was: I will walk for 30 minutes three days each week.
Much better. Now Sarah knew exactly what she was going to do. Thirty minutes. Three days. She could put the walks on her calendar and check them off when she finished. This was a Small and Specific goal. And small, specific goals can be extremely useful. In fact, eventually every big goal must lead us to small, specific actions.
But after a few weeks, Sarah noticed something. She was walking regularly. She felt good about that. But the goal didn’t excite her. There was no stretch. No destination beyond completing three walks.
She began wondering: What could these walks be taking me toward?
That question changed things. Instead of asking how she could exercise a little more, Sarah began asking what she might be capable of. She remembered a charity 10K held each spring in her community. “What if I could do that?”
Now she was thinking bigger.
Big and Broad: “I Want to Challenge Myself”
Sarah liked the idea.
She wanted to become healthier, certainly. But she also wanted to test herself physically. She wanted something she could work toward. And she liked the idea of doing something that benefited an organization she cared about.
Her new goal became: I want to challenge myself physically and use the experience to support a good cause.
Now there was energy in the goal. It meant something. But there was still a problem. What exactly was she going to do?
Walk a charity 5K? Run a marathon? Bike across the state? Climb Mount Everest?
Let’s not get carried away, Sarah!
She had moved into Big and Broad territory. The vision had expanded, but the target had disappeared again.
Keller and Papasan point out that big and broad thinking can identify an important problem or possibility but still leave us unsure how to tackle it.
Sarah needed to combine the best parts of what she had learned. She needed the inspiration of big and the clarity of specific.
But first, she needed to decide what big meant to her.
What Makes a Goal BIG?
Within Excelerated Goal Setting™, BIG has a particular meaning. BIG goals are: Bold. Important. Gratifying.
And those words matter because a BIG goal isn’t simply a large goal. It doesn’t have to impress anyone. It doesn’t have to make people say, “Wow!” It doesn’t need to involve climbing a mountain, starting a company, writing a bestseller, or changing the world.
A BIG goal is BIG for you.
Bold
A Bold goal stretches you beyond your current comfort zone. It asks something more of you than you’re currently doing. But Bold doesn’t mean impossible.
Imagine stretching a rubber band. No tension, no stretch. Too much tension . . . SNAP!
A Bold goal creates enough tension to encourage growth without stretching you so far that you’re paralyzed before you begin.
Sarah was already walking for 30 minutes several times a week. But walking around the block wasn’t Bold anymore. And running a marathon next month would be foolish.
Completing a 10K several months from now? That made her a little nervous.
Good. There was some stretch.
Important
A BIG goal also matters to you. Not to your neighbor. Not to somebody on social media. Not to the person selling you a program for becoming a newer, richer, thinner, more productive version of yourself.
You.
An Important goal connects with something you value.
Sarah cared about her health. She wanted to remain active and capable. She also cared about the organization the charity event supported. This wasn’t simply something she thought she should do. It mattered to her.
That’s important because eventually the novelty wears off. The alarm goes off, and you don’t want to get up. The weather isn’t cooperating. Progress slows. Other activities compete for your attention. When that happens, “I suppose I should” isn’t much fuel.
A goal with meaning gives you a reason to continue.
Gratifying
Finally, a BIG goal is Gratifying.
That doesn’t mean every step is enjoyable. Some of them will be difficult. Some will be boring. Some may leave you wondering why you ever thought this was a good idea. But the pursuit itself gives you a sense of progress, accomplishment, purpose, or contribution.
Sarah wasn’t simply trying to complete 6.2 miles. She was becoming stronger. She was discovering what she could do. She was supporting a cause she believed in. She could imagine crossing the finish line tired but satisfied, knowing that the months of effort had produced something meaningful.
That was Gratifying.
Bold stretched her. Important connected the goal to what mattered. Gratifying made the effort worth making.
Now Sarah was ready to get specific.
Big and Specific: Give the Dream a Target
Sarah finally wrote: On April 18, I will complete the Community Hope 10K and raise at least $1,000 for the local children’s center.
There it was. Big. Specific. And BIG.
Bold: Completing a 10K would require Sarah to stretch beyond what she was currently capable of doing.
Important: Improving her health and supporting the children’s center both mattered deeply to her.
Gratifying: Training would give her a sense of progress, and completing the event while helping others would give the accomplishment meaning beyond herself.
It also had something her earlier goals lacked: A target.
Sarah knew what she was aiming for. She knew when. She knew how far. She knew what contribution she wanted to make.
Now the Guiding Question for Excelerated Goal Setting™ had an answer: “Where am I intentionally heading?”
Sarah was heading toward April 18.
Think Big, Then Go Small
Here’s the interesting part. Once Sarah had a BIG goal, her daily actions became smaller.
Keller and Papasan make this point in The ONE Thing: thinking big about the destination doesn’t mean every action must be big. Big goals are accomplished through smaller actions taken consistently.
Sarah didn’t wake up the next morning and complete a 10K. She walked. Then she gradually increased the distance. She followed a training plan. She bought appropriate shoes. She scheduled training sessions. She told friends about the fundraiser. She asked people to contribute. She tracked her progress.
The BIG goal gave direction to the small actions. And that’s the part we sometimes get backward. We set lots of small goals, hoping they will somehow add up to something meaningful.
Exercise more. Save some money. Read more. Get organized. Volunteer. Learn something new. All worthwhile. But toward what?
A BIG goal helps answer that question. It gives your smaller actions somewhere to go.
Three Steps for Setting Your Own BIG Goal
You don’t need to copy Sarah’s goal. (Please don’t sign up for a 10K simply because you read about one here.) Remember: BIG is personal. Instead, try these three steps.
Step 1: Start With What Matters
Ask yourself: “What do I want to be different in my life?”
Where do you want to grow? What would you like to experience, create, accomplish, learn, improve, or contribute?
Don’t worry about making the goal specific yet. Think broadly.
Perhaps you want to improve your health. Deepen an important relationship. Become financially stronger. Learn something you’ve always wanted to learn. Create something. Serve your community. Take an adventure. Make a meaningful contribution.
Then ask: “Why does this matter to me?” Not why it should matter. Why does it actually matter? That question begins moving you toward the Important part of BIG.
Step 2: Apply the BIG Test
Take the possibility you’ve identified and examine it through the three BIG questions.
Is it Bold? Does this stretch me beyond where I am now? Not beyond someone else’s comfort zone. Mine.
Is it Important? Does this connect with my values, priorities, relationships, purpose, or the person I want to become? Would achieving it genuinely matter to me?
Is it Gratifying? Will pursuing this goal give me a sense of progress, meaning, accomplishment, or contribution? Will the journey itself contain something worth experiencing?
If the answer to one of these is no, don’t necessarily throw the goal away. Adjust it.
Perhaps it needs more stretch. Perhaps it needs a stronger connection to something you value. Perhaps you’re pursuing an outcome that sounds impressive but isn’t actually yours.
Keep working with it until the goal fits you.
Step 3: Make BIG Specific
Now give the goal a target. What exactly will you accomplish? How will you know you’ve done it? When will you do it?
Sarah moved from: “I want to get in better shape.” to: “I’ll walk three days a week.” to: “I want to challenge myself and support a good cause.” and finally to:
“On April 18, I will complete the Community Hope 10K and raise at least $1,000 for the local children’s center.”
Each version taught her something. But the final version combined vision with clarity. That’s Big and Specific.
And then comes the question that sets your goal in motion: “What’s one small thing I can do today?”
Your Goal Is a Direction, Not a Judgment
There’s one more thing Sarah had to learn.
A BIG goal is supposed to stretch you. That means success isn’t guaranteed. Perhaps Sarah trains faithfully but gets sick the week of the event. Maybe she finishes the 10K but raises only $850.
Was the goal a failure? I don’t think so.
If pursuing the goal helped Sarah become healthier, more disciplined, more confident, and more engaged in something she cared about, something valuable happened before she ever crossed the finish line.
Goals give us direction. They aren’t judgments of our worth. You can adjust the plan. You can revise the timetable. Sometimes you may even discover that the goal itself needs to change.
That’s not failure. That’s information. Be clear about where you’re intentionally heading, but remain flexible about how you get there.
Where Are You Intentionally Heading?
Remember Sarah at the beginning? Her life wasn’t empty. Quite the opposite. It was overflowing. She was doing things from morning until night. Her problem wasn’t inactivity. It was direction.
Setting a BIG goal didn’t magically make her life easier. It did something more useful. It gave her a destination.
Now, when another activity wanted a place on her calendar, she had something against which to evaluate it. When she planned her week, her training had a reason to be there. When she got tired of walking and training, she remembered what April 18 represented. And when she made progress, she wasn’t merely checking another task off a list. She was moving toward something.
That’s the difference between being busy and being intentional.
Excelerated Goal Setting™ isn’t about cramming more accomplishments into your life. It’s deciding where you want your life to go. And that’s why the Guiding Question matters: “Where am I intentionally heading?”
Maybe you don’t know yet. That’s OK. Start broad. Dream a little bigger. Then get specific.
Ask yourself: Is this Bold enough to help me grow?
Is it Important enough to deserve part of my precious life?
Is it Gratifying enough that the pursuit will bring meaning, satisfaction, or contribution?
Then give it a target. And take one small step. Because you don’t need to spend every day doing something enormous. You need to know that the small things you’re doing are taking you somewhere that matters.
Sarah started with a walk. Eventually, that walk had a destination. What destination will you give yours? That’s how you practice your way to your Excelerated Life™!
What’s your BIG goal? Do you have one?
If you do, how are you moving toward it?
If you don’t, what is the first step you could take TODAY to get started?
Share your comments by leaving a post below.
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Ask better questions. Make better choices. Build better habits. Live an Excelerated Life™.
Excelerated Goal Setting™ is the practice of establishing meaningful, values-based goals that provide direction, inspire growth, and help transform your vision into purposeful action. It is one practice for creating your Excelerated Life™, a life of flourishing and well-being, and a life of meaning, purpose, and service.
Read more about the Excelerated Life™.
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Resources:
Keller, Gary with Jay Papasan. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. Austin, TX: Bard Press, 2012.
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This blog post includes research information and suggestions provided by ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI. The content was generated with AI assistance and is intended to provide information and guidance. Please note that the suggestions are not official statements from OpenAI. To learn more about ChatGPT and its capabilities, you can visit the OpenAI website.
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(Please NOTE: The material in this document is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice in medical, psychological, legal, or financial matters. The purpose of this article is to educate and inspire. Following the techniques, suggestions, or strategies presented does not guarantee success.)