Goals vs. Standards: Why Your Goals Keep Failing

A goal is the outcome you want. A standard is the daily expectation you hold yourself to, no matter what. Goals fail when standards stay the same, because the goal doesn’t matter if the standard doesn’t change.

I’ve taught goal setting for a long time. When I wrote the Dream Book, it was a method for reaching goals faster: get a clear picture, write down your whys, put pictures on a vision board. Want a new boat? Go sit in that boat. I still believe in all of it.

But something came into focus for me recently, and I brought it to Tactical Tuesday, the live Zoom training our MVMT members attend. The goal is important. The standard is just as important. Maybe more.

What is the difference between a goal and a standard?

The goal is the snapshot. It’s the picture of what you want to achieve.

The standard is the operating system. It’s who you have to become to get there: the way you walk, talk, dress, and act. Your standard is showing up right now in the mirror.

I’ve said for years that every new level of my business came with a personal transformation. What I was missing was this piece. For the transformation to happen, the standard has to rise.

One member who used to manage a sales team put it in the language they used back then: outcomes and controllable actions. The outcome is the goal. The controllable actions are the standards. You can’t control whether a deal closes today. You can control whether you made the calls.

In sales, a standard sounds like this: I make fifteen outbound calls and talk to fifteen people every day, no matter what. I reconnect with five past clients, no matter what. That’s not a goal. That’s a floor.

Why do goals fail?

Think about the people who set the same New Year’s resolutions every year and never see them happen. They don’t lack goals. They lack a new standard.

Every new goal has a new standard attached to it. Between where your standard is today and where it needs to be, there’s a gap. That gap is where goals quietly die. Or it’s where you feel the discomfort, close it, and the goal becomes real.

A mindset shift helps, but it’s temporary unless a standard backs it up. Most of us have a gap between what we talk and what we walk. I include myself in that.

How do standards slip?

There’s never one slip. Here’s how it actually happens.

You set the standard. You step out of line one time and tell yourself, “That’s okay. I got away with it.” Then you do it again. And again. Pretty soon you’ve veered off, and you aren’t even heading in the same direction as your goal anymore.

Every time you accept less than your very best, you don’t just lose the moment. You teach yourself that the standard is negotiable.

That’s why non-negotiables matter. What will you not accept from yourself? Not just in business. Your health. Your marriage. How you treat people. Having non-negotiables doesn’t make you a jerk. It means some things are simply not acceptable.

Standards are measured on your worst day

It’s easy to hold a standard on an easy day. The test is the day the deal falls through, or the day you’re running on fumes.

Here’s a recent one for me. I’d been traveling, got delayed, and didn’t get to bed until one in the morning. Then I had something I’d committed to that was going to add four extra hours before I could get home. Did I feel like doing it? No. Would it have been easy to skip? Yes. But my standard said I was going. So I took the emotion out of it and went.

That’s the line between settling and not settling. Settling isn’t doing nothing. It’s doing less than you already know you’re capable of and calling it okay.

What do you have to give up to go up?

Raising a standard usually means something has to go. Make a give-up list. Here’s what tends to land on it:

1. Relationships that normalize the old standard. Most of my friends today are not the same people I hung out with ten or fifteen years ago. When we raised our standard, we started to feel awkward in some of those old circles. Steven Furtick wrote in an early book about telling friends he loved that he couldn’t keep hanging out with them, because he was growing and they weren’t. Speak the truth in love. But make the change.
2. Comforts. Sleeping in. Mindless scrolling. For me, it’s walking in the door, heading for the pantry, and getting on my phone. Once you see the habit, replace it: put the phone away and say hello to everybody first.
3. Excuses. We all have good ones.
4. Old labels. “I’m not a morning person.” “I’ve always been bad with money.” “It’s hard to find good people.” Those are stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and some of them can change.

Your action plan before Friday

At the end of the call, I gave everyone an assignment. Do it this week, not someday. Write your answers down:

1. What will I no longer tolerate from myself, starting today?
2. What will I no longer tolerate in my business?
3. What am I giving up this week that held me at my old standard?
4. What one action will I take before Friday that proves the new standard is real? Pick something a little uncomfortable.

Then say it out loud. When you only think it, you can talk yourself out of it. Look in the mirror and say, “I’m not willing to live at this level anymore. Not another day. Not another minute.”

Quick answers

What is the difference between a goal and a standard?
A goal is the outcome you’re aiming for. A standard is the daily, non-negotiable behavior that makes the outcome possible.

Why do people fail to reach their goals?
They raise the goal without raising the standard. The old daily habits stay in place, so the results stay the same.

How do you know your standards are slipping?
Watch for small exceptions you justify with “I got away with it.” When the same exception keeps showing up, the standard has already dropped.

Want to work on this with other business owners? Book a discovery call with The MVMT team at themvmt.com/discovery-call.