Module 7 · Planning & self-regulation · Supported by multiple studies

Outcome goals and process goals

What you want to achieve, and what you’ll do — you need both, but you act on the second.

6 min read · Level: Beginner · Free — no account needed to read

The problem it solves

What kind of goal actually helps you act?

The concept

Outcome goals describe results: run a 10k, lose weight, pass the exam. Process goals describe the behaviour that leads there: run three times a week, cook dinner at home, study for 30 minutes after lunch.

You need both. The outcome gives direction and meaning; the process gives you something to do today. When an outcome is slow or partly outside your control, the process goal is what you can keep.

Good goals are specific, challenging but achievable, and paired with feedback. Vague “do my best” goals tend to produce less than clear ones.

Why it matters

Decades of goal-setting research found specific, challenging goals with feedback outperform vague ones, and a meta-analysis found goal setting has a small-to-medium effect on behaviour change on its own.

Supported by multiple studies: Many studies, often pooled in reviews or meta-analyses, point the same way. It still works better for some people and situations than others.

See it happen

Ade’s goal is “get better at maths” before his exam.

The ordinary first approach

That goal shows he cares, which is the important part.

With the idea

He keeps it as the outcome and adds a process goal: “Solve five practice problems after dinner, Monday to Friday.”

What changed

He can now act on the goal every day and see whether he did.

Easy to get wrong

• Setting only outcome goals and waiting for results to motivate you.
• Setting process goals with no link to anything you care about.
• Making goals so hard they feel hopeless from the start.

Try it now: Pair an outcome with a process

1. Write one outcome you want.
2. Write the behaviour that would lead there, with how often and when.
3. Check it’s specific enough that you’d know whether you did it.

Apply it to one of your habits

For one of your habits, which outcome does it serve, and is the habit itself a clear process goal?

Reflect

• Which of your goals has no process attached to it yet?

Go deeper — evidence & sources

• Locke & Latham (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705
• Epton, Currie & Armitage (2017). Unique effects of setting goals on behavior change: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. doi:10.1037/ccp0000260