End Goals vs. Means Goals
August 23rd, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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A common goal-setting mistake (in my opinion) is to confuse end goals with means goals. End goals define outcomes where you’re unwilling to compromise — they describe exactly what you want. Means goals, on the other hand, define one of many paths to reach your end goals.
Here’s a simple example:
Let’s say you want to see your favorite music group perform live in concert. That’s an end goal — it defines your outcome. You want to be there in person and enjoy that particular experience. It’s not a stepping stone to anything greater, and no substitute experience would produce the same result.
Now suppose a radio station is having a contest where the prize is two tickets to that concert, and you decide you want to win that contest. That’s a means goal. Winning the contest is not the final outcome you’re after. It’s only one of many ways that could lead to you sitting at that concert.
But if you don’t win those tickets and fail at your means goal, you may still be able to achieve your end goal. You just need to find another way to get to that concert.
Begin with the end in mind.
Sometimes we get blocked on the path to our goals. But many times it’s just the means goals that trap us, and if we stay flexible, we can plot an alternative route to the same ends.
If you’re a goal setter like me, take some time to review your list of goals and separate the end goals from the means goals. I keep my end goals on a separate list. My end goals don’t change much at all — they represent outcomes I’m working towards. But I often revise my means goals in order to best fit my current situation.
Before I separated my means goals from my end goals, I’d treat them both the same way. This would lead to unnecessary frustration when I couldn’t meet a particular means goal. It’s like getting really upset that I couldn’t win those concert tickets in the radio contest. I’d get too attached to something that didn’t matter. And while I was frustrated, I’d miss seeing other paths to achieve my end goals.
It’s so important to clarify your end goals and avoid confusing them with the means to get there. With good reason the second habit in Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is “begin with the end in mind.” Notice it doesn’t say, “begin with the means in mind.”
I have numerous means goals, but I only have about ten end goals for my entire life. And most of my end goals have to do with living a certain kind of life and/or being a certain kind of person. My end goals describe the kind of life I want to lead. They provide a sense of direction more than a final destination. For example, one of my end goals is to be a man of integrity, honor, honesty, and courage. But as you can imagine, there are countless ways to get there. Most of my end goals represent ideals I wish to manifest in my life as much as possible. In a way my end goals are mainly a reflection of my values. Courage, for example, is a value I’ve held for many years. It is an ideal I strive to manifest each day.
My means goals are far more specific. My means goals are there to help me manifest my end goals. My means goals bring precision and clarity to my end goals. For example, if becoming more courageous is an end goal, then a means goal would be to do something specific I’d be hesitant to do because of fear, such as getting up in front of an audience and doing extemporaneous humor (which I successfully did a few weeks ago). One more thing to be unafraid of….
If I meet unyielding resistance in trying to achieve my means goal, I remind myself to step back and look at the big picture — the end goal. What am I trying to achieve and why?
Become unstoppable.
My end goals are such that I feel unstoppable in pursuing them. I can always find new ways to build courage, to meet new people, to learn and grow, and to contribute. If one path is blocked, there are plenty of others to choose from.
If you take away my voice so I can’t speak, I’ll just do more blogging. Take away my blog, and I’ll write offline. Take away my ability to write, and I’ll find someone else to help me get the message out. The means are not nearly as important as the outcome. Writing, blogging, and speaking are merely means to an end — that of helping people grow.
By having flexible end goals that connect with the manifestation and expression of your ultimate potential, it’s nearly impossible to fail except by choice.
Don’t get so caught up in the pursuit of your means goals that you lose sight of the person you wish to become. Create and hold a vision of your ideal self in your mind. That vision then becomes the basis of all your end goals, from which your means goals derive.
Clarification: The means goals can be set using a system like S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, time-bound). The end goals don’t fit this type of system, however. End goals work as ideals to move towards, and one of the reasons they must transcend the limits of a system like S.M.A.R.T. is that they must be expansive enough that you can pursue them for a lifetime. Ironically, you’ll never actually achieve your end goals in the sense that you achieve something specific and measurable and time-bound. The end goals are there not to behave as “to do” items to be checked off — rather they define the direction and scope of your life. They help define and shape your life path, not your final destination. The means goals are merely stops you choose to make along that path.
August 23rd, 2005 at 3:06 am
Steve -
Great and deceptively simple re-framing tool! I’ve actually been misinterpreting a couple of past (major) business failures (read, “crash and burn”) which, when reframed as “means goals” under your coaching in this article, not ends goals, I now suddenly realize very clearly that those businesses actually weren’t failures — they were just means that didn’t arrive at where I’m headed as my ends goal(S)
Now I see that those experiences increased my credentials, skills and competence exponentially (i.e., now, along with my other skills, I am qualified as an adviser in renewal of distressed small businesses, bankruptcies, winding up small businesses, etc.).
There is no school that could teach what I’ve learned and can now comfortably share, so long as I don’t mistake it as a missed ends goal.
Thanks again Steve – I can’t tell you how greatful I am for this coaching you provide and I’m just blown away at what I am getting in the short time since I accidentally ran across your site —
You Rule! Anton
August 23rd, 2005 at 5:03 am
Fantastic explanation. I’m always telling people to quit coming to me with a “half solution” and bring me a “problem” instead. What I’ve been getting at is the same thing, but your distinction is clearer. I’m frustrated when someone wants help with their means goal because often the means they’ve chosen are exactly what’s getting in their way. Usually, when I can get to the root goal/problem, a much better path is available.
August 23rd, 2005 at 5:33 am
Off topic:
Speaking of goals. I hope sometime you’ll write an article talking about handling goals that you cannot easily measure.
You (and others) say to make your goals specific and measurable. How do you measure goals like “being a man of honesty”? Sure can can change the wording to “never tell an untruth” but then you run into the “ugly bride/baby” problem.
Or the goal of “being a good father” (one of mine). How do you measure something like that?
August 23rd, 2005 at 6:31 am
I added an extra clarification paragraph to the end of the original goals to help provide a better understanding of end goals in the context of a system like S.M.A.R.T.
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:30 am
Decent necessery article; bravo. Reality is even worse than that. You may take a look at what people publish on sites like http://www.43things.com/ – it is some sort of social goals-list management thing. Most people don’t even seem to understand that you have to set sepecific goals. In my experience people do confuse a goal and the actions requred to meet the goal as well. The whole thing seems to be pretty complicated (for non-programmers(?)).
August 23rd, 2005 at 12:32 pm
I found it interesting that you speparated “end” from “means” and referenced S.M.A.R.T., yet did not differentiate with the labels Goal and Objective.
In planning and project management terms, a Goal is the end-state description and Objectives (in SMART format) are the means to move toward the Goal.
You might find the planning practice Hoshin-Kanri appealing. Hoshin teaches how to create and “deploy” objectives to accomplish a goal. It’s a little like a Gantt type project plan, but rotated to form a tree of Objectives cascading from a Goal.
While Hoshin is normally used for business plans, I’ve experimented to adapt it to personal planning. I started with the planning model of EDS, the consulting firm, and looked for parallels to their focus on ‘benefit the customer’, ‘improve the business’ and ‘develop the staff’.
My personal Hoshin has three questions at its “root” – what will I do for the benefit of others?, what will I do to improve ‘operations’ within my family?, what will I do to evolve myself? (I’m working on this as a background task.)
From following your Blog, hear your emphasis on personal evolution. You might think about formalizing goals for the other two domains. Perhaps you have already them, but haven’t applied this framework to separate them for visibility and to help manage life-balance.
Info on Hoshin can be found on a web-site operated by Pete Babich, the CEO of Total Quality Engineering – http://www.tqe.com. Pete publishes the “Hoshin Handbook” which describes in very simple procedures how to conduct Hoshin style planning.
A more thorough tutorial of Hoshin planning is available in a book by Cowley and Domb: “Beyond Strategic Vision – Effective Corporate Action with Hoshin Planning” (1997). This is available at the online bookstore of amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750698438/qid=1123474188/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_ur_2_1/104-6508993-1987911
for approx. $18.00
August 24th, 2005 at 1:41 am
Bruce Lee puts it this way: “It is not necessary to really achieve your goal, as a goal is merely something to help you aim/focus your effort.”
August 24th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
I completely agree with your distinction between end and means goals. It is a valuable insight that can save you a lot of frustration if you are going down the wrong “means” path.
In my goal setting software, I ended up creating separate concepts for dreams (”end” goals) and goals (”means” goals) because I think the planning and questions you need to ask yourself are different for each of them. Same idea, just slightly different terminology.
I’ve also found that within the means goals, you can distinguish between outcome-oriented goals like reaching a target weight in 6 months, and behavior-oriented goals that support them. Things like exercising 3 times per week, or limiting your portions while eating out. I think it is easier to stay motivated with the supporting goals when you can link them to a higher purpose.
September 6th, 2005 at 12:41 pm
Too good.I feel liberated,you have shed all my doubts and now i know there are lot of ways to achieve end goals.
God you sre great,awesome.
Keep writing