On defined desires versus goals

I have found that with most people, and this includes myself, that when we say “goals” what we really mean is “desires”.

When we say something to the effect of, “Yea it’s a goal of ours this year to [fill in the blank]…” but we have no measurable outcome that I know of which we’ve decided upon so that we’d know this thing were fully achieved, then it’s actually a desire.

I am trying to correct this misspeaking in myself.

I’m not trying to correct this because goals are necessarily better than desires in any way. Many desires have accomplished far more than goals. In fact, I’m not even, yet, trying to turn these desires into goals.

Nope; I’m trying to correct this because meaning what I say and saying what I mean is important.

I think it’s a great start to even clearly just state and define one’s desires. This is farther than most people get.

This is especially true if you have a spouse (or most any partnership). Many unions have struggled because of poorly conceived or poorly communicated desires.

There is much power in a defined desire which becomes capable of being communicated well. If this is accomplished, goals will typically take care of themselves if they’re even needed.