The Difference Between Purpose and Goal and Why it Matters
I believe the best way to define purpose is to define it using the context Viktor Frankl provides in his pioneering book Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl describes purpose as being like a radio station that you can tune in to or tune out of at will. Moreover, you will keep tuning in to a station only when it has meaning to you, and for a purpose to have meaning the impact must go beyond serving only your self-interest. In other words, a purpose is bigger than you and you can only have one purpose at a time.
On the other hand, goals are all about you and you can have more than one goal at a time. In addition, goals are finite achievements with a specific measurement for success and a deadline to achieve that measurement. A purpose does not need a deadline, it’s a lifelong pursuit.
The reason why it’s important to know the difference between purpose and goals is that your purpose should direct your goals, not the other way around. Goal setting is so common most people take it for granted. As a result, people develop the habit of creating multiple unrelated goals that have no synergy and then attempt to pursue them concurrently. This is ultimately why people set so many goals they never achieve.
The Ability to Create Synergy is Why it’s Important to Know the Difference Between Purpose and Goals
Synergy is when the sum of the parts are greater than the parts separately. Purpose provides synergy for goals. For example, my purpose is to activate the hidden genius in families, teams, and athletes by strengthening their mental fitness. Right now, I have three goals for this purpose:
- Write in this blog daily (this is day 941 in a row).
- Build a community of parents, athletes, and teams who enjoy learning about mental skills and mindset training (I have an announcement on this coming soon).
- Publish a series of mental skills and mindset training books (the draft of the first book is complete).
All three of these goals support my purpose. What’s more, because all three goals support my purpose, each time I work on achieving one goal, it helps me take a step towards achieving the other goals. That is synergy.
In conclusion, if a goal setting process does not provide synergy towards pursuing a purpose bigger than you, then you’re decreasing your chance of achieving your goals. It’s already difficult enough to achieve your goals with so many distractions in the world. So, why not use purpose to make your life easier?