Goals VS Priorities: What’s the Difference?

Achieving balance between your goals and priorities can mean a lifetime of success and peace of mind.

Priorities: The most important and meaningful things in your life that you are not willing to compromise or sacrifice in pursuit of something else; priorities are in the present.

Goals: An anticipated expectation, possibility, experience, or end result you work towards creating, achieving, or bringing to fruition; a goal has not yet been realized in the present.

Are your life and business goals in line with your daily priorities?

When your goals are aligned with your priorities, you’ll find yourself on a path to achieving bigger, meaningful, and long-lasting results. You’ll also find it’s easier to maintain your integrity, feel calmer, and experience greater peace of mind when you combine those goals with your natural strengths and talents.

But sometimes, you may feel resistant to performing certain tasks in pursuit of a long-term goal. If so, chances are good that those tasks—and the goal—are in conflict with your current priorities. This could mean your goal is:

•  Something you don’t really want to do

•  An old goal that may not be relevant anymore

•  A goal from someone else’s agenda

The latter two examples could mean you’re using the priorities of others to determine your goals. These are goals you feel you “should” be striving to achieve, not necessarily ones you value for yourself. If your goals are misaligned with your priorities, you’ll continue to feel “off” throughout your pursuit of them.

Don’t put others’ priorities before your own.

“Should”-based goals, or those that put others’ priorities before your own, do not support your personal vision. If the tasks required to fulfill the goal conflict with your priorities, it’s probably a “should.”

Before you can map out which of your goals are “should”-based, take a moment to list your current priorities, including your lifestyle and values, and determine which ones you’re not willing to sacrifice. This allows you to identify the activities you need to engage in more and which ones you’re willing to give up today. You may also determine what can be sacrificed short-term in pursuit of a bigger dream for the future.

Honor your priorities by making them non-negotiable.

The bottom line is: your goals need to be aligned with your priorities. Once you can orient your life around your priorities, your goals won’t feel like things you’re obligated (or pressured by others) to obtain. If you design your life and career around what is most important to you on a daily basis, you’ll avoid becoming attached to goals that rob you of your quality of life today.

John’s Story
Aligning your goals with your priorities can change a life.

John had a goal of being a top producer in his company. As such, he looked at the other top producers and the activities they engaged in to make them successful. The top salespeople were working twelve-hour days, sometimes even seven days a week.

“It worked for them, so I guess I should do that too,” John thought. In his quest to become financially successful, he decided to give up a chunk of his personal time for family and other hobbies he enjoyed. Yet John’s priority was spending time with his family. He didn’t understand why he felt miserable and encountered internal conflict while attempting to achieve this goal.

John went back and created a personal strategy and routine for achieving his goals in a way that supported his lifestyle and priorities. He realized his goal of being a top producer was really a desire to gain more responsibility and respect from his peers. John decided he could achieve the same goals by volunteering to coach his daughter’s soccer team. The second time around, he didn’t have to sacrifice what mattered most to him. He was able to reach his goals with less effort and enjoyed the process even more. ♦