The 7 Types of Goals and Why You Need Each One

Jul 2

Last week we talked about goals and how to create them for our life. You can read more about that here. If you've ever sat down to make goals, you've realized that not all goals are created equal. There are goals that are easily reached and some that will take a lifetime. Some concern your job and others your family. In order to maintain balance in our lives we need to have at least one goal for each dimension of our lives. Otherwise, we will find ourselves out of balance, which would be like driving with a flat tire.

So, here are the 7 types of goals and why we need them.

Career. The one question every kid gets in their life most often is what do you want to be when you grow up. We all have dreams of what we want to do some day. We have to set goals to make that dream a reality. Without career goals we could easily find ourselves either floating from job to job without focus and never achieving our dreams.
Financial. It has been said that couples argue about money more than anything else in the relationship. If the couple has the same financial goals, a lot of strife can be avoided. If we want to leave something for our children or help others, we need money to make it all happen. We have to have financial goals or we will find ourselves under a mountain of debt and nothing to show for it.
Spiritual. At church, we always here about going deeper or pressing in. What does that even mean? In Bible college they talk about a concept called sanctification, becoming more and more like Christ. We have leftovers from our sinful nature and God wants to see us free from those chains. If we don't set goals to break the bad habits and create good ones we will be like the people Peter talked about who had to continually drink spiritual milk and not mature to higher things.
Physical. Roseanne Barr was on the Today Show recently talking about her new show. As the interview began, Matt Lauer mentioned that she had lost a bunch of weight and asked what was her secret. She said it was the secret method of eat less and move more, and that she is happy where she is. Physical goals are a must if we want to have a long, fulfilling, successful, and productive life. You can't accomplish much in a hospital or rehab center somewhere recovering from complications of poor health.
Intellectual. We may have stopped growing physically, but we can never stop growing intellectually. Learning new skills and new technologies will enrich your life and make you more marketable to everyone. Yes, you may have learned everything you needed to know in Kindergarten, but shouldn't we go beyond that?
Family. Unfortunately, many times our families suffer because of other pursuits. Many people, men especially, think that by pursuing other goals and providing for their families is enough. However, studies have show that this is not the case. Setting family goals is essential to keeping work and home in balance and make life richer and a lot less drama filled.
Social. Everybody needs somebody sometimes, but unless we make time for for friends and getting to know people we will lead a pretty lonely life. Even introverts have a few friends. The goals we set here make sure we have fun and broaden our horizons to everything life has to offer.

We all have strengths and weaknesses. Some of these goals we set naturally, others are an afterthought, but we need them all. J. C. Penny once said, "Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal and I will give you a stock clerk.

Which type of goal do you need to work on? Take some time this week to write down some goals for that area. You just may make history.