Types of Goals

In this post, I will focus on two types of goals: personal goals, and monetary goals.

Personal goals focus on things we want to work on and accomplish for our own fulfillment. They can be things like learning a new skillset, learning a new language, reading x number of books a year, getting enough sleep a day, trying a new recipe, exercising, etc.

Monetary goals focus on our finances, such as how much we want to save, how much we want to earn, what to cut back on, creating a budget, etc. But there is a clear difference between the two goals, and that is in how they cultivate certain habits in order to achieve the desired goals.

Personal goals develop habits that aren’t necessarily attached to finances, although they can. Personal goals can span a broad range of things, such as our health, to educational and creative pursuits. For example, if we make it a goal to learn a subject, such as history, the purpose isn’t to get a monetary prize or a reward, but to gain knowledge and understanding about the past. And if our goal is to make a painting to hang in the living room, the goal is to decorate our living space, not to earn money from it.

In contrast, monetary goals focus on how to wisely manage our wealth. In having monetary goals, we become disciplined about our spending, as well as in increasing our wealth by earning more or having more income streams. While these goals can certainly increase the size of our wallet, they have little to do with making us well-rounded and creative. Instead, monetary goals are about making sure that we’re financially secure (i.e. have enough to cover an unexpected emergency, have enough saved up for the future, etc.).

Both types of goals have their benefits, but they focus on different aspects of our lives. One focuses on things that are personally valuable to us, whereas the other focuses on our financial wellbeing. But the challenge is in balancing the two. Our personal goals sometimes want to take up more time than our monetary goals allow, and vice versa. When we work day and night, we put our personal goals to the way side. But if the time (or money) we spend on our personal goals negatively affects our monetary goals, then that can affect our budget and our financial future.

In finding the right balance between personal and monetary goals, we can satisfy both. Of course, the right balance is different for everyone, since each person has their own personal and monetary goals. But once we find the right balance, we don’t allow one type of goal to outweigh the other, but rather, we acknowledge that each type is a benefit to us.