Four Common Goal Setting Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

Goal setting is a key skill that can shape the trajectory of your career. It matters early on, and it matters later, too, when responsibilities grow and time feels scarce.

Yet many high-performing professionals struggle with goal setting and even quietly cringe at the idea of it altogether.

Part of the challenge is not motivation or capability but how goal setting is approached. Below are four common goal setting mistakes I see and how to fix them.

1. Mistake: avoiding goal setting all together after a bad experience

You’ve set goals before. Then work got busy. The goals slipped, and eventually they started to feel like yet another thing you failed to follow through on. Maybe you told yourself afterwards that it was a bad idea to set goals in the first place. 

Mindset shift: This is a common belief among high-performing professionals, but it gets things backwards. Much of what fills your day is urgent work: deadlines, emails and fire drills. Urgent work keeps things moving, but it rarely moves your career forward. Important work, on the other hand, is the actions or activities that move the needle forward for your career. If something is important, it contributes towards your mission and growth. Important work - like relationship building, business development, long-term initiatives, and skill building - often doesn’t feel urgent, and so it gets crowded out.

Do this instead: Start where you are. Goal setting does not require a perfect system or a blank calendar. It starts with the willingness to name what matters to you.

2. Mistake: expecting too much too soon

You decide that this is the year that you will fix everything. Health, career, relationships and boundaries. You create an ambitious list of goals, but then, a few weeks in, you haven’t seen success. Maybe you told yourself that you failed.

Mindset shift: Most goals do not fail because of a lack of effort or ability. They fail because the bar was set too high or too close.

Do this instead:  

 1.     Choose one thing. Ask yourself: if I were to focus on one thing that would have big effects on the results, what would it be?

2.     Write it in a clear, measurable way. For example, instead of “being healthier,” aim for “three hours of movement per week.”

3.     Get clear on why it matters. For instance, more energy, better focus and increased confidence.

4.     Then look at your calendar and time. Build simple weekly micro-goals that support that one thing. Each week should feel achievable. If it feels discouraging, make it smaller.

3. Mistake: setting the wrong kinds of goals

You set goals around outcomes like winning new clients, hitting a billable target or getting promoted. And instead of feeling motivated, you feel discouraged.

Mindset shift: Many goals fail because they are crafted as outcome goals. Outcome goals are results that you hope to achieve but depend on factors outside your control. After all, much of what happens in your career depends on other people’s decisions, timing and circumstances. When goals are overly outcome focused, they can quietly drain motivation.

Do this instead: Focus on process goals. Process goals are actions that you control, such as how much time that you dedicate to an initiative, what you choose to focus on, or how you choose to show up.  You cannot control whether someone becomes a client or how leadership ultimately makes promotion decisions, but you can control many other things that likely helps you achieve those outcomes.

4. Mistake: setting a goal without a system

You set a goal with good intentions, but execution falls apart once real life intervenes. You conclude that you lack discipline or capability, when in reality, you lack a system.

Mindset shift: Change is hard, especially in demanding roles. Success comes from building a system around your goal.

Do this instead: Build a system around your goal.

• Make it visible by writing it down and reviewing it regularly. Keep it somewhere you will actually see it.

• Make it rewarding by acknowledging wins, even if you are hitting 70 percent of your plan. Progress builds momentum.

• Make it structured by mapping weekly micro goals over an 8 week window. At the end of 8 weeks, reassess and adjust. Research shows it takes about this amount of time to establish a new routine.

• Make it a village by involving others. Research shows that you are much more likely to achieve your goals when you have an accountability partner. Even saying your goal out loud to someone else increases your chance of follow-through.

Bottom line

Effective goal setting is not about doing more. It is about focusing your limited time and energy on what matters most. With the right mindset and a simple system, goals become a source of clarity rather than pressure. And remember, making time for goals often means saying no to other things that feel urgent but are not aligned. How you spend your time reflects what you truly prioritize.

If you’d like support with goal setting and accountability to achieve those goals, drop me a note through the Contact page and we can explore what support would be most helpful right now.