What is an Outcome Goal + 17 Examples

Outcome goals are best defined as something that you want: a clear and specific result. For example, think about any of your desires and dreams. 

Is it a promotion? A big house? Or the freedom to travel the world? 

All those are outcome goals.

In this article, you learn about its benefits and disadvantages. And you will also learn how you can set better outcome goals by supporting these with performance goals and process goals.

Let’s dive in!

Why set outcome goals?

Outcome goals reflect a specific outcome that you desire. The big objectives you want to achieve – your life goals – are also the most important to you. 

If you’ve ever set a New Year’s resolution, it’s likely an outcome goal.

Think about buying your dream car or losing 10 pounds for example.

Since these goals are most important to you, they’re also the most motivating ones. They propel you forward through life and inspire action.

Or at least, they do at first…

The downside of outcome goals

When you set goals, you are most likely to set outcome goals. And though these goals are great, there are two major downsides to them. 

First, the goal is often quite big and far away, which means it takes a long time to achieve it. And where you feel motivated at first, it won’t take long before you hit your first setback.

That’s when most people tend to give up…

Second, most of the time, outcome goals are not completely within your control. For example, winning a marathon does not only come down to your preparation but your opponents as well.

And even though you might run a personal record, you may still feel devastated because you became second rather than first. 

I’m not saying that outcome goals aren’t great – because they are.

What I’m saying is that you should set all different types of goals:

• Outcome goals: fixate on a specific result or outcome.
• Performance goals: focus on achieving a specific score.
• Process goals: focus on taking a number of actions.

Examples of outcome goals

Let’s look at some outcome goal examples. Then, we will look at two examples and see how we can add supporting performance and process goals.

1. Own a luxurious house in the mountains.
2. Climb one of the Seven Summits.
3. Win the local marathon.
4. Reach a million-dollar net worth.
5. Buy your dream car.
6. Make a living from your business.
7. Make a living while traveling the world.
8. Do 50 million dollars in sales.
9. Earn 100K this year.
10. Earn a coding degree.
11. Get accepted into Harvard.
12. Be able to retire early.
13. Earn 100K this year.
14. Get a promotion.
15. Get a six-pack.
16. Visit the pyramids.
17. Enjoy a trip to space.

Your outcome goals can be anything you like. Whether that’s a small goal you can finish fast or a life goal that takes years to complete.

Now, let’s take a look at how these other goals can support the outcome ones.

Example of an income goal

Say you want to travel the world and need a steady income of 80K per year to realize that. You build websites for a living and you decide to start on your own.

• Outcome goal: to make 80K this year.
• Performance goal: to convert 4% of the potential clients you talk to for a minimum investment of 5K each.
• Process goal: to approach 2 prospects every weekday

Of course, it requires some calculation and planning to come up with these numbers. But following the numbers above for 52 weeks, would make you 104K dollars.

Here is why your outcome goal is stronger now:

The process goal is small and something you can take action on straight away. Not only that, you feel great every day when you achieve this micro goal. 

The performance one helps you to get extra insights. If you don’t hit your target yet you reach out to 2 people every day, why is that? Is your conversion too low and can you increase that? Or should you simply reach out to more people?

These extra goals help you to stay motivated and also to troubleshoot issues when you’re dealing with setbacks.

Let’s take another example.

Example of running a marathon

You are looking forward to the local marathon event and you decide you want to win it. How can you set up your goals?

• Outcome goal: to win the local marathon.
• Performance goal: to run the marathon in under 3 hours.
• Process goal: run 20 miles evenly spread over 4 weekdays and 10 miles on one day on the weekend.

Once again, the process goal is in your control and is easy to achieve. It keeps you motivated and it’s the type of goal that brings you closer to achieving the outcome goal.

The performance goal also supports your outcome goal. But it does something else too. 

Because say you run the best marathon of your life and beat your personal record by half an hour at 2:52. You should win the marathon with that time. But the state champion unexpectedly decided to join too and ran it in 2:34, beating you by a long shot.

Would you feel upset?

If you only focus on the outcome goal, then yes. 

This was your local tournament after all and you would have won it! 

But let’s be honest, you beat your record and hit the performance target very well. And if you keep the progress up, you should win the local one at some point in the future.

Every type of goal serves a role. 

Combine them together and you have the highest chance of achieving your outcome goals.

Closing thoughts

Outcome goals are motivating and reflect your true dreams and desires. 

And when you support these with performance goals and process goals, you increase your chance of success.

If you want to set better outcome goals and sub-goals to help you achieve them, then make sure to read my review of Goals on Track. It’s the best digital goal-setting and task-management system I’ve found for individuals.

Finally, if you want to gain cutting edge strategies, view these best goal-setting books.

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