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Setting goals is one of the most important things you can do if you want to achieve success. It forces you to sit down and think about what you want to achieve. Your goals give you direction. They inspire you to grow and reach new heights.

But goal setting alone does not equal success. If it did, we’d all be rich with 6-pack abs (as the saying goes).

So why then, are some people able to consistently achieve their goals while others fail miserably? What is it that high achievers do differently?

These are the questions that I asked myself as I started to study people that consistently achieve their goals.

What I discovered is that just about everybody follows the SMART goal-setting framework. They set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

SMART goals are great. They tell us what our desired outcome is. They set the destination.

But they don’t tell us how to get there.

High achievers understand this.

They know that without a plan of action, a SMART goal is practically worthless. 

That’s why they set a second type of goal that I call Habit Goals. 

What High Achievers Do Differently

SMART goals tell you where you’re going. Habit Goals tell you how to get there.

High achievers know that you need both to be successful.

First, you set the SMART goal, then you set the Habit Goal.

Here are some examples of SMART goals: 

• Sign 10 new clients every month in 2023
• Add $100k in annual recurring revenue in 2023
• Lose 50 lbs by the end of 2023

Most people stop there. They never develop a clear plan of action. As a result, they fall behind on their goals, and many times, they end up abandoning them altogether. 

That’s why Habit Goals are so important.

They tell us exactly what we need to do each day to achieve our SMART goals. They put us in control of the outcome.

Here are some examples of Habit Goals:

• Cold email 25 prospects per day
• Call 5 strategic partners per week
• Run 2 miles per day

See the difference?

SMART goals tell you where you’re going. Habit Goals tell you how to get there.

How to Set Habit Goals

Let’s use the goal of signing 10 new clients per month as an example. 

To set a Habit Goal for that, we have to work backward. 

We must determine how many sales calls you’ll need in order to close 10 clients. For this example, let's assume you have a 33% close rate. 

That means that your new goal is to get 30 sales calls per month.

But that’s not good enough.

Now, you need to figure out how to get those 30 sales calls. For this example, let's assume that you get all of your clients by cold calling. Let’s also assume that it takes 10 cold calls on average to book one sales call. That means that you would need to make 300 cold calls per month to book 30 sales calls. 

Now we’re starting to get some clarity around how to achieve your goal.

But we need to go one step further because 300 cold calls is a daunting task. 

So we divide the 300 cold calls by 20, which is the approximate number of work days in a month. This tells us that you need to make 15 cold calls every workday to book the 30 sales needed to land 10 new clients. 

So your Habit Goal is 15 cold calls per day. This is the number that you must focus on. If you just make your 15 calls each day, everything else will take care of itself. 

Can you see how much more clarity you get with a habit goal?

Instead of blindly shooting for some high-level goal, habit goals put us in control of the outcome. They tell us exactly what we need to do to achieve success. 

I'll repeat it one more time. SMART goals tell us where we’re going. Habit Goals tell us how to get there. 

So next time you set a goal, remember to start with a SMART goal, then work backward until you have a well-defined Habit Goal that you can take daily action on.