QUANTITATIVE vs. QUALITATIVE GOALS
It’s the holiday season and the new year is just around the corner. During this time of the year, it’s common to look back and review our accomplishments through the passing year and start formulating our goals for the next one. Why do we do this? Because this is how we measure our progress, and this is how we set our targets for the next year.
The goal-setting process may be approached in two ways (of course, there are many other ways, but today we are focusing just on these two) — the quantitative goal-setting approach and the qualitative goal-setting approach. What’s the difference between these two? And why one of them is way better than the other?
The quantitative goal-setting approach requires you to set quantitative goals, like next year I will read 10 books, or next year I will save $5000, or next year I will exercise at least 3 times a week, and so on and so on. Though this approach sets clear and easily measurable targets which you can track without a hitch, it misses the greater purpose of the goal-setting exercise, but namely to reach deeper levels of understanding ourselves and the world around us and ultimately to find a way to become a better version of ourselves.
Let’s imagine you have met your target to read 10 books. But what if all these books were criminal novels of no real literarily and artistic value? What if you have saved $5000 but you don’t know what to do with all this money? What if you have exercised 3 times a week but you haven’t developed your movement culture? Yeah, probably you will feel satisfied that you have reached your yearly goals. But have you developed any new skills? Have you challenged yourself to go outside your comfort zone? And, after all, have you become a better man? Here is the problem with the quantitative goal-setting approach — it does not require you to count for these things. On the other hand, the qualitative goal-setting approach is built around qualitative targets and it counts the inner quality of your goals, not their quantity.
The qualitative approach to goal setting process requires a deep analysis of your current situation — you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses. The recognition of your weaknesses will give you the opportunity to define such goals to attack these weaknesses.
Let’s see how the goals discussed above would look like if we view them through the prism of the qualitative goal-setting approach.
If you know, for example, that you want to develop your leadership skills (because you have been promoted or you want to get a promotion) would you just say to yourself “I have to read 10 books next year and my goal will be met”? Of course, no. You will sit down, and you will start carefully digging for the best leadership books out there. And when you find them, you will put them in your reading list for the next year. And this is how you develop your leadership knowledge and skills.
What about the $5000 in your savings account? Well, nobody could deny that it’s nice to have some money put aside but having money without a vision where to invest it is meaningless. So instead of just saving $5000 think about a purpose for saving this money. Maybe you would like to buy a new car, maybe you would like to go on vacation, maybe you would like to start your own business. It’s up to you to decide but you must have a clear purpose. Something out there must justify your sacrifices for saving this money.
And finally, instead of just setting a goal for exercising 3 times a week, which practically means anything (it could be jogging; it could be weight lifting; it could be yoga etc.), why don’t you try setting a specific goal — for example — getting 6-pack abs. Six-pack abs are hard to achieve. To understand how to achieve them would require you to do researches, to change your diet, to do cardio exercises (which are generally good for your health), and after some time you will have to do some extra researches and more exercises. This is how you extend your knowledge and how you improve your overall wellbeing by just setting a qualitative instead of a quantitative goal.
So why do people tend to use the quantitative goal-setting approach more frequently than the qualitative? Well, probably some of them don’t even know about the existence of the qualitative goal-setting approach. They haven’t heard of it or haven’t thought about it and they don’t know what it means. Others just prefer the easy way, because let’s be honest, the quantitative goal-setting approach is much easier than the qualitative. You can just look at the ceiling, make up some numbers, and here you go — for less than 10 minutes you have your goals for the next year. Don’t go the easy way. Walk the extra mile and make 2020 the best year yet in your life!