Maxwell Maltz was a plastic surgeon in the 1950s. He made a scintillating discovery in a new scientific field of his day — cybernetics. He wrote in the book Psycho-Cybernetics that our “subconscious mind” is not just a mind but a goal-striving servo-mechanism.

He compared it to a torpedo or heat-seeking missile. It needs clear-cut targets to work on. And if you don’t give it one, it will find one.

Then why is it that most people don’t achieve their goals? There is no shortage of goals or goal-setters in the world.

That is because:

“These goals are filtered through the self-image, and if inconsistent, are rejected or modified.” — Maxwell Maltz

For the last five decades, we have been fed to set SMART goals. As you might be aware, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Usually, the kind of goals we would set would be either outcome-based or process-based.

Outcome-based goal — Lose five pounds in three months.

Process-based goal — High-impact exercise for 30 minutes each day for three months.

The trouble is, both don’t work.

James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, has been studying habits and goal setting for more than a decade. Two of his famous quotes are:

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

“Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of daily habits that will get you there.”

James reckons your identity holds you back. He recommends setting identity-based goals.

An identity is a self-image chosen by you for you. And when things truly matter to you, you’re truly committed to making them happen. That’s because “the more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it.”

This is in line with Maxwell’s observation that your goals are filtered through your self-image and if they are not in line, they are either rejected or modified.

An identity-based goal is — I’m the type of woman that never misses a workout.

Here are a few more examples

Outcome-based goal — To earn $10,000 from writing by the end of this year.

Process-based goal — To write 200 articles on Medium and publish five e-books by the end of this year.

Identity-based goal — I am a market-savvy writer who can sell her work fair price.

Outcome-based goal — To write 2 to 3 articles a week.

Process-based goal — Write 750 words a day.

Identity-based goal — I am a writer who writes fast and fluently.

When I had outcome-based or process-based goals, I didn’t make much progress with my writing.

Rather I fought my own goals by keep telling myself that I was not a good writer.

As soon as I started seeing myself as a writer, I became a much more fluent writer. I am consistently writing 4 -5 articles a week on Medium and Substack and a post a day on LinkedIn.

In addition, I have written and published four books.

Add Spirituality To Your Goal Setting

Another thing that works is making your goals higher than yourself.

Recently, I came across a three-questions technique by Vishen Lakhiani to find out your end-goal.

End Goals is the term Vishen uses for identity-based goals.

The three questions Vishan Lakhiani poses are:

1. What are the experiences you want in your life?
2. How do you need to grow to have those experiences?
3. How can you contribute to the rest of the world?

There is a lot of merit in looking at goal-setting in this way.

When you think about experiencing the life of a lean and fit person, the motivation is much deeper and long-standing.

And since experience is embedded at the emotional level, the desire to achieve it is much stronger.

The second question is even more magical.

It makes you concentrate on the skills for the experience you want.

I realized I needed to put more of my work “out there” to grow as a writer.

So I started a Substack newsletter and started publishing short-form posts on social media and increased the frequency of article writing on Medium. Within months, I have become my “desired identity.”

The third question adds the spiritual element to the goal-setting.

When you make your goal bigger than your personal achievement, when there is an element of contributing to the universe, then the force of the universe clears the path for you (I wrote about it in Four Levels of Consciousness and How To Make Sure You Listen To Inspiration When It Whispers)

Here is the link to the video about the 3 Question Technique. And here is the format to use the 3 Question Technique: