Just a Timid Goal

There’s a word that just doesn’t work with goals. It makes the goal feel small, timid, like there’s a piece missing.

That word is “just”.

“I just want to grow my product.”
“I just want to make sure I have clients.”

It makes the goal sound like a hope, like I haven’t decided if I’m going to make it happen yet. Others, who want to help, won’t know whether (or how) they should.

If a goal has a “just”, it almost never has a “by”. And “by”, an even shorter word, communicates I’ve got a plan.

“I will grow my product by dedicating 6 weeks to it.”
“By the end of the summer, I’ll have advanced on attracting a new client by publishing content five times.”

A change of word, and my project gets closer to becoming inevitable.