Resolution Vs Goal: What’s the Difference?

Resolution vs Goal: While people often use resolutions and goals interchangeably, the fact is that these terms have some key and subtle differences. Read on to find out the difference between goal and resolution.

Related: Keep Setting New Goals & Resolutions!

Resolution Vs Goal: What’s the Difference?

Goals

A goal is your target. It’s the desired outcome that you hope to attain.

Goals have a definite and precise endpoint. So you’ll know when you’ve achieved your goal.

You can place a timeframe on them. There are both short-term and long-term goals you set for yourself. Goals can also fall into various categories among the different aspects of your life. For example, you can set career, relationship, or personal goals.

Resolutions

Regarding resolutions, you can use them in several ways across varying contexts. First, we’ll look at personal resolutions that have to do with the trajectory we’d like to take with our lives.

A resolution is a promise to yourself, and it’s something that’s usually more open-ended than a specific goal.

Resolving entails altering some aspect of your life, such as eating healthier, focusing on loved ones more, or managing your finances better.

Resolution Vs Goal: How They’re Related

These two terms go hand-in-hand. That’s why people often reference Goals and Resolutions together. Goals make up your resolutions.

The resolution is the overarching theme or the implied direction you wish to take with your life. The goals are the activities that fall within the theme or the specific steps to take you to that place.

If you resolve to lose weight or eat healthier, which is probably the most common New Year’s Resolution, you need to set goals for how you will accomplish such a wish.

Without goals, resolutions often go unmet. You’ve likely experienced setting a resolution, only to have it fall flat and be left behind within a month or two.

That’s natural and lies within the realm of normal human behavior. So we attend to what’s immediately in front of us.

Setting goals and regularly checking in with them keeps them at the forefront of your mind, making those resolutions more likely to become a reality.

Essentially, a resolution is something you will constantly be working toward, while a goal is specific and finite.

Goals make up resolutions.

Goals and resolutions are relevant and intertwined.

We’ll be focusing on both throughout the challenge!