Michael Jordan missed more shots than most NBA players ever scored.
Think about that for a second.
One of the greatest basketball players in history missed thousands of shots. His success was not based on making every attempt. It came from continuing to take the shots, learning from the misses, and focusing on the things he could control.
I was thinking about this when I reviewed my own goals for 2020.
I had set 27 different goals, activities, and a few pieces of wishful thinking.
How many did I achieve?
11.
Does that make me a failure?
Not in my book.
Because those 11 achievements were only part of the story.
I also came close to reaching several other goals. And then there were successes that were never on my original list because circumstances changed.
And let’s be honest: 2020 changed a lot.
When I looked back at the year as a whole, I realized that I had still moved forward. I had learned, adapted, achieved important things, and finished the year stronger than I started it.
That experience reinforced something I believe about goal setting.
There are three different levels of goals, and we should not treat them all in the same way.
1. Identity Goals: Who Do You Want to Be?
The first level is about identity.
It answers the question:
Who do I want to be?
This goes deeper than revenue targets, job titles, or business milestones.
Identity goals are about the person and leader you want to become.
For example:
- What values are important to me?
- What kind of leader do I want to be?
- How do I want people to experience me?
- What kind of relationships do I want to build?
- What purpose do I want my work to serve?
- What do I want to contribute to the world?
These goals are usually longer lasting because they are connected to who you are rather than what you temporarily achieve.
For me, identity goals are the most important.
They provide direction when circumstances change.
If your goal is simply to become more successful, the definition of success can change every year.
But if your goal is to become a trustworthy leader who helps people communicate better, that identity can guide hundreds of decisions.
2. Result Goals: What Do You Want to Achieve?
The second level is result goals.
These answer:
What do I want to achieve?
In business, these might include:
- Revenue
- Profit margin
- Market share
- New customers
- Customer retention
- Number of projects completed
- Number of articles published
- Number of speaking engagements
- Number of products launched
Result goals are useful.
They give us something concrete to aim for and can help us measure progress.
They can also be highly motivating.
But there is one important problem:
Results are not always completely within your control.
You can work hard to win a new customer, but the customer makes the final decision.
You can create excellent content, but you cannot control exactly how many people will read it.
You can prepare carefully for a presentation, but you cannot control every reaction from the audience.
External circumstances can also change.
Just look at what happened in 2020.
Markets changed.
Businesses changed.
People’s priorities changed.
Plans that seemed realistic in January could become impossible by March.
That does not necessarily mean the person failed.
Sometimes the target moved.
3. Performance Goals: How Will You Get There?
The third level is performance goals.
These answer:
How will I achieve the result I want and become the person I want to be?
This is where we focus on our actions.
For example, instead of only saying:
“I want 20 new customers.”
you could define the activities that support that result:
- Contact five potential customers each week.
- Publish two useful articles each month.
- Follow up with existing prospects.
- Ask satisfied clients for referrals.
- Improve your sales conversations.
These are performance goals.
They are much closer to your control.
You cannot guarantee that every prospect will become a customer.
But you can control whether you make the calls, have the conversations, publish the content, and follow up.
This is where the Michael Jordan example becomes relevant.
You cannot control every shot going into the basket.
But you can control whether you prepare, practice, step onto the court, and take the shot.
Focus on What You Can Control
This distinction can change how you think about success.
If you focus only on results, you may feel like a failure whenever something outside your control prevents you from reaching the target.
If you focus on performance, you can evaluate the actions that produced the result.
Ask yourself:
Did I do the work?
Did I learn from what happened?
Did I adapt when circumstances changed?
Did I continue moving toward the person I want to become?
Those questions often tell you much more about your progress than a single number.
How the Three Goals Work Together
These three levels are not competing ideas.
They work together.
Think of them as:
Identity → Result → Performance
For example:
Identity:
I want to be a leader who builds trust and helps people perform at their best.
Result:
I want my team to achieve a specific business target.
Performance:
I will have regular one-to-one conversations, give clear feedback, communicate expectations, and remove obstacles that prevent the team from performing.
The result gives you a destination.
The performance goal gives you the actions.
The identity goal gives you the reason and direction.
What Happens When Plans Change?
One of the biggest benefits of identity and performance goals is flexibility.
Imagine that your original result goal becomes impossible because the market changes.
If you only focus on the result, you may feel stuck.
But if you know who you want to be and what actions you can control, you can adapt.
The result may need to change.
Your identity does not necessarily need to change.
And your performance goals can be adjusted to fit the new reality.
That is exactly what many of us had to do in 2020.
Don’t Confuse Missed Goals With Failure
This is perhaps my biggest lesson from reviewing my 2020 goals.
I reached 11 out of 27.
If I had looked only at the numbers, I could have concluded that I had failed.
But that would have ignored everything else that happened.
Some goals were nearly achieved.
Some became irrelevant.
Some were replaced by better opportunities.
And some successes appeared that I could never have predicted when I wrote the original list.
Goals are useful tools.
They are not a verdict on your worth.
A Simple Exercise for Your Next Goal-Setting Session
Whether you are setting personal goals or planning with your team, try this three-step exercise.
Step 1: Define the Identity
Ask:
Who do we want to be?
What values should guide us?
What kind of company, team, or leader do we want to become?
Step 2: Define the Results
Ask:
What do we want to achieve?
Choose measurable results that show whether you are moving in the right direction.
Step 3: Define the Performance
Ask:
What will we actually do?
Identify actions that are within your control and that can move you toward the desired results.
Then review these actions regularly.
If circumstances change, adapt them.
Which Goals Should You Focus On?
For me, the answer is clear.
Identity goals come first.
They are long-lasting and help determine the quality and direction of your life and leadership.
Result goals come second.
They can motivate us and are useful for measuring progress, planning resources, and making business decisions. But they are not always completely within our control.
Performance goals are where we take action.
They are largely within our control and can be adapted when circumstances change.
That is where we take our shots.
Some will go in.
Some will miss.
The important thing is that we keep learning, adapting, and taking the next shot.
One Question for Your Company
So now I have a question for you:
Which type of goal does your company focus on most?
Results?
Performance?
Or the identity you want your organization and its people to develop?
Perhaps the most effective approach is not choosing just one.
Know who you want to be. Know what you want to achieve. Then focus your daily actions on what you can control.
That is how I approach goals.
And that is how I intend to keep taking my shots.
