Setting goals is important when it comes to increasing focus, building better habits, and increasing discipline.
However, there are downsides to setting goals. One of them is setting too many.
For this blog post we spoke to multiple productivity experts who helped me figure out why setting too many goals is no good.
The Impact of Multitasking on Goal Achievement
The first person we spoke to was Mitchell Creasey, CEO and Founder of The President’s Coach, he told us, “Think of each goal as a web page. The more pages open on your browser, the slower the machine runs. It’s the same with us. The more things you have to do in a day, like closing a deal or going to the grocery store, the slower your processing time becomes.”
This is spot on. I’ve realized that if i have anything to do before my main work, I am so much less efficient.
Setting too many goals will make you feel like this on a regular basis.
The key is to make sure you do your work in the order of importance and make sure that each goal you set feels good within your daily routine.
The Risk of Burnout and Decreased Self-Esteem
The second input we got was from Deb Harrison, Consultant and Coach, she stated, ““Reasons for NOT setting too many goals include that it can result in: physical burnout; decreased self-esteem due to slow progress and/or inhibited results; reduced attention across multiple areas of your life; a lack of clarity around priorities; and a reduced quality of work.”
I can relate to this one as well.
There was a time where I was trying to run 5 websites, two youtube channels, and a full time job.
I would see all of these people hitting these milestones on YouTube and with their blogs, and here I was doing all this stuff and not seeing similar results. This made me feel as if I was incompetent and not able to be successful.
I learned over time that I had to cut down and focus on one thing at a time.
Even if I set the goal to work on one site half the week, and another the second half.
The Importance of Prioritizing Goals
Next up, we spoke to Kevin Miller, CEO at GR0, and he said, “The hierarchy is critical because your most important goals will need more time, attention, and consistency to reach. We all hold onto many goals of all sizes, big and small, but understanding our priorities is core to staying on track with our goals.”
This is similar to what I said above. The goals that take the most energy should be done early in the day. Then as the day goes on, you should get into your simpler goals.
For example, if you have a big project you’re working on, instead of working on it sporadically throughout the day, dedicate a solid block of time in the morning to make significant progress. This way, you’re tackling the project when your energy and focus are at their peak.
Mastering One Goal at a Time
Next up, Joshua Host, Founder at Thrivelab, had this to say about setting too many goals at once, “Master one goal at a time. For instance, when we try to implement too many healthy habits into our lifestyle at a time, we may give up on all of them. Instead of introducing so much change at once, introduce one habit at a time and master it before setting the next goal for a higher likelihood of sticking with it.”
This doesn’t mean that we can only have one goal in our lives. Rather, we should have one primary goal in each major area of our lives, such as fitness, work, or personal development. By doing so, we can maintain a balanced and manageable goal-setting approach that allows us to make meaningful progress in all areas without feeling overwhelmed or stretched too thin.
SMART Goal Setting to Avoid Overwhelm
Jackie Henry with H & S Wellness Consultants recommends us to, “Use the acronym “SMART” when setting goals to help increase your likelihood of completion and decrease a sense of overwhelm.”
Let’s break down each component of the SMART framework:
- Specific: Your goal should be clear and specific. Instead of saying “I want to get fit,” a specific goal would be “I want to run a 5K in under 30 minutes.”
- Measurable: You should be able to track your progress and know when you’ve achieved your goal. For the fitness goal above, you can measure your progress by timing your runs.
- Attainable: Your goal should be realistic and achievable. While it’s good to aim high, setting a goal that’s too challenging can lead to frustration and demotivation.
- Relevant: Your goal should be relevant to your life and your other objectives. If you’re trying to improve your health, a fitness goal is highly relevant.
- Timely: Your goal should have a clear timeframe. This creates a sense of urgency and can motivate you to take action.
We talk about smart goals in our blog post, how to set realistic goals.. By applying this framework to your goal setting, you can increase your chances of success and reduce the potential for overwhelm. It’s a simple yet powerful tool for personal and professional development.
The Power of Focused Attention
Here’s a quote from Alexis Haselberger, Time Management, Productivity, and Leadership Coach. Someone who has helped with other posts in the past: “If you start with one book, and read 25 pages a day, you’ll finish in a couple of weeks, and then can move onto the next. Which method is more satisfying?”
This analogy beautifully captures the essence of focused attention. By concentrating on one task or goal at a time, we can make significant progress and achieve our objectives more quickly. On the other hand, if we try to juggle multiple tasks or goals at once, our attention is divided, and our progress on each task is slower.
I used to think that being a good multi-tasker was a good thing. But as I get older i’ve learned that multitasking is actually terrible for productivity.
The Hidden Issues Behind Too Many Goals
Our last quote is from Tarah Keech, an executive life coach: “Too many goals is likely covering up what you’re too afraid to deal with. When I see clients overloaded with too many #1 priorities, too many “critical” goals, what I see is what they’re avoiding: Boundaries, saying no, not pleasing people, and resolving deeper seated confidence gaps.”
I can attest to this.
When I got out of highschool, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do. Infact, I was terrified of stepping into the real world.
So instead of facing my fears and going out and trying to get a job straight out of high school, I signed up for college and avoided all of those feelings all together.
Even though I knew deep down that college wasn’t for me, I still went because I wasn’t confident enough to step into the real world.
However, looking back I would do things completely differently.
I wouldn’t hide behind my “false goals”.
Things you Need To Keep In Mind When Setting Goals
- It’s ok to set multiple goals, just not in the same realm. For example, you want to have fitness goals, work goals, relationship goals etc. It’s just important that you don’t set too many goals in one realm of life.
- Focus on one at a time. It’s important to time block and set time aside for every single individual goal. For example 5-6 a.m, run a 5k. 6:30-8:30 a.m, work on your YouTube channel, and so on. Doing this will keep you in a good groove, and allow you to get into a rhythm for every single thing that you do.
- Make sure all your goals align with one another.
- Think quality not quantity when setting goals. You may think quantity may get you to where you want to be faster, however, you’re actually slowing yourself down. I realized this when I started too many websites at once and got burnt out.
- Make sure you break down all of your goals into smaller steps.