Any one of us that has tried to better themselves or learn something has set some form of goal – whether formal or not.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve broken your own goals plenty of times over. We aim high and then the process of getting from start to finish is too long and we lose motivation.

But setting process goals can help keep the fire going as you progress. You’re not setting a goal to lose five pounds and getting frustrated when the scale isn’t moving, you’re setting a goal to hit 10,000 steps for five days straight. Setting a goal that focuses on the doing more than the outcome, makes us much more likely to meet the goal and set increasing challenges. Things that are more in our control like moving for X days in a row or tracking our spending for three months in a row or whatever the process may be are much more likely to keep us engaged in the progress we’re looking for.

Set goals that are more about the process of getting where you want to go. If you want to lose weight, set goals relating to sticking to your calorie goal for a whole week or simply tracking your meals accurately for a certain amount of time.

If you’re trying to get stronger set goals relating to increasing your repetitions or weight each week. I do planks at night. I hate them. Each week I increase the duration by 15 seconds. I still hate them, but it’s satisfying to see that I can increase the duration and what used to be virtually impossible is now doable.

The big picture is that we need the satisfaction of obtaining and meeting big goals. If we make our goals more about the process and less about the big outcome, we are more likely to see satisfaction along the way and stay engaged in the process of improving.

Process goals also help prevent the let-down we can feel after achieving our big end-result goal. I finished a marathon at the end of April. I had spent months following a training plan and eating appropriately and focusing singularly on that race. And I completed it. It is now August and I haven’t run since. Because I realized I didn’t love the process of it. I was glad to have the accomplishment of finishing the race, but the doing of it and training for it put my life out of balance. If we focus on the process of improving, we are better able to incorporate the progress into our lives in a balanced way.

Focus on small, incremental improvement and progress. Outcome goals can be useful from time to time, but process-oriented goals are much more likely to be successful and inspiring.