General vs Specific Goals: Which One Is Better?
In the self-improvement space, specific goals get a lot of love.
To be terrific, you need to be specific.
If you are not specific, then you are considered to be:
- Early in the process.
- Lazy.
I’m all for specific goals.
I believe writing down your goals and adding details to them is a great way to add direction to your life.
However, I think general goals have a place in the self-improvement space as well.
With general goals, a person is driven into action.
What Are General Goals?
General goals are the big-picture goals.
We are intentionally vague with our language.
An example is the gym.
A specific framing for the gym would be:
- Do 3 sets of bicep curls.
- Do 3 sets of squats.
- 3 sets of chest presses etc.
The general framing for the gym would be:
- Gym.
Why Have General Goals?
I have a trick for people who are going through rock bottom:
- Create a to-do list with 1 item on it.
The only item on your to-do list can be:
- Clean apartment.
Very vague language.
When a person does the 1 item to-do list challenge, guess what happens?
They are driven into action.
They get off their bed and begin cleaning their room.
They intially start off zig-zagging around their apartment.
As time passes, the apartments slowly gets cleaned.
A general goal gives their mind a target without overwhelming them.
If their to-do list was:
- Fold your clothes.
- Do your dishes.
- Dust your mats.
- Organize your bookshelf.
Etc.
Then this guy would feel overwhelmed.
The 1 task to-do list is an efficient way to gradually get out of rock bottom.
It steers you in the right direction & helps overcome analysis paralysis.
Why General Goals Overcome Analysis Paralysis
Whenever I talk to someone who is suffering from analysis paralysis, I notice that they are fussing over the details.
They have so much information that they don’t know what is important and what is not.
If you get a seasoned mentor, they will often cut through the fluff:
‘Dude, you’re overthinking it. Just do X.’
They will state X in a general sort of way.
With public speaking for example, a lot of newbie speakers get lost in the details.
- What should I wear for my speech?
- How many lines should I have on my index card?
- What if an audience member looks bored?
That’s when the seasoned speaker will say:
‘Dude, just create your speech.’
Notice that the seasoned speaker is not saying:
‘Dude, just create a speech that is within 7 minutes, with a compelling opening, detailed middle and a heartwarming ending, which engages at least 3 members of the audience.’
The seasoned speaker is cutting through the fluff.
General goals cut through the fluff and allow the newbie to produce.
General vs Specific: The Final Verdict
Both general and specific goals are great, it just depends on which stage you are in.
I believe general goals are best when you need to drive yourself into movement.
This is when you don’t know much about a field.
During this stage, just learn enough to begin.
Be intentionally vague with your language so you aren’t getting caught up in the details.
Specific goals are earned.
The more knowledgeable you become in a field, the more you can be detailed about the right things.
Anyone can get detailed for the sake of being detailed.
But with time and experience, you are capable of being detailed about the levers of your skillset/business.
Levers are the segments that lead to a high ROI.
After you have used general goals to get into motion, and used specific goals to add details to your activities…
One day, you will hit a plateau.
That happens to the best of us.
Suddenly, you need to learn about new software, otherwise, your business will fade.
Back to the drawing board.
Unleash general goals and get specific overtime.
Recap:
- General goals for driving into action.
- Specific goals for adding details to your action.
My Story with General to Specific
‘When do you normally get specific with your actions, Armani?’
The answer depends on the field.
For example, in the beginning stages of starting the ArmaniTalks website, I issued the command:
- “Blog.”
Every day, I would blog.
Soon, I began noticing something.
Blogging requires a lot of work.
At least 1.5-2 hours per day.
I couldn’t do this every day.
So, I studied my patterns.
My blogs hovered around 1000-1500 words.
I posted YouTube videos on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Suddenly, I had an idea.
Publish 1000-word blogs every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.
I wanted to make 1 day where I overlapped a blog with a YouTube video.
On the other days, I wanted to record just a YouTube video and just a blog for the day.
This was a subjective call from my end.
Then I started to add themes to my blogs.
Rather than just blogging about anything, I wanted my brand to specifically cover 6 topics:
- Mindset, content creation, emotional intelligence, public speaking, social skills & storytelling.
As you can tell, the general command of:
- “Blog.”
Went to a specific command of:
- “Release one 1000-word blog every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday that deals with mindset, content creation, emotional intelligence, public speaking, social skills or storytelling.”
It took roughly 9 months to get to that stage.
I wouldn’t have known how to issue a specific goal if I didn’t start off general.
Utilize Both General & Specific Goals
Goals add structure to the mind.
Without any goals, a person can easily get lost in Lala land.
General goals drive you into action and unleash a primal spirit within you.
While specific goals are earned over time and satisfy your intellect.
Know when to apply which.
It’s fun seeing your goals slowly coming to realization.
Some goals come to realization fast, while other goals take a while to show signs of life.
When things start clicking, you’ll see the wait was worth it.
