Back in 2020, I, Akash Solanki, decided to set a big challenge for myself. I took one of my websites and aimed to publish over 100 articles that year. My vision was clear—to attract more than a million readers by the end of the year.
To achieve this, I planned to take my then modestly successful blog and transform it into something bigger, something that could resonate with Indian millennials. I gathered a team of writers, revamped the design of the site, and set up a content pipeline that I would manage. In my head, I was laying the foundation for something grand, a digital empire built to engage with the tech-savvy youth of India.
However, it didn’t take long for the whole thing to unravel. In less than three months, I found myself shutting down the project, removing a lot of the content created by others, and reverting back to the simpler version of my blog. My pace of publishing slowed back down.
At first glance, it might look like a complete failure. But looking back, I consider it one of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever experienced. I'll explain why as you read on.
The internet is overflowing with advice on setting and achieving goals. And while some of that will be covered here, I want to explore something more nuanced yet incredibly important: The failure of goals can often teach you more than their success.
Most of us think of goals as targets, something to aim at and hit with precision. But goals are much more intricate than that. Sometimes, setting goals you aren’t likely to achieve can be more valuable. Sometimes, giving up or changing your goals along the way is the smarter choice. And sometimes, having no goals at all can be surprisingly freeing.
In this article, I'll dive into the complexities of setting goals—how to set them, when to let them go, and how to adapt intelligently when things don’t go as planned.
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### How Goals Can Help You
We all know that setting goals gives direction and purpose to our lives. Goals help us measure progress, understand our shortcomings, and provide motivation. It’s no surprise that goal-setting is so popular—it works.
But there’s more to the story. It’s important to understand exactly how goals benefit you first.
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### Specific Goals Work Best for External Achievements
A popular way to use goals is to chase a specific outcome. I wanted to become a published writer, so I set a goal to finish writing a book. I wanted to have financial freedom, so I aimed to be debt-free. I wanted to get in better shape, so I decided to lose a few kilos by a certain date.
Setting clear, measurable goals like these helps us achieve tangible results. Research shows this is true across different contexts and cultures. Just like a GPS needs a destination, external goals work best when you have a specific result in mind.
For example, if I say, "I want to save more money," that’s vague. But if I say, "I want to save ₹1,00,000 by the end of the year," now I have a concrete goal that’s actionable and measurable.
When you set specific goals, they become trackable, giving you benchmarks to measure your progress.
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### General Goals Are Best for Personal Growth
While specific goals are great, not everything in life is easily measurable. What if I want to be a better writer? How do I measure that? By website traffic? Book sales? Praise from readers?
This is where general goals come into play. They help with things that are ongoing, like improving a skill or being healthier. You can't completely "finish" being healthier or improving as a writer. There's always room for growth.
General goals help balance the focus on external achievements and prevent over-reliance on specific results. They allow you to enjoy the process instead of just the outcome, keeping your well-being in check even if you miss a target.
As I’ve learned from my own experience, mixing general and specific goals is key. It’s the journey that teaches you the most, and sometimes failure is the best teacher.
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