Need and Passion: The Fuels of Goal Achievment

Yesterday there was quite the achievement in the NCAA Basketball Tournament; Butler University won its region and is heading back home to Indianapolis to play in the Final Four for a national championship. To basketball novices this may not be a big deal. However, Butler is not considered a basketball powerhouse and, in fact, was only considered 5th best in their region. To get to the Final Four they had to beat a few teams that were considered by all the "experts" to be far better than themselves. However, all the teams from their region that were supposed to beat them will now be watching them play for the national title in the coming week.

How did they accomplish this? I am pretty sure it all started with a goal. I was not there at the beginning of their season when the coaches and players set out on their journey and decided what they wanted the end results of their season to look like. However, I have been on competitive teams of my own and grew up around sports and have never been on a team that did not set goals for their season. For a school like Butler the national title may have been a little big to consider at the beginning of the season but once they received their invitation to play in the tournament I guarantee that they reconvened and saw that this goal was now in sight. They are now two games away from achieving their goal. Will they do it? Who knows but it sure will be fun watching.

Any team or individual that sets out to achieve a goal generally does so for a reason. However, that reason is usually not a strong enough fuel to propel the team or individual toward success. That is, unless the reason fell into one of two categories. In my own experiences I have found that there are two key ingredients to succeeding in the pursuit of a goal, one is need and the other is passion.

I recommend that for anyone setting goals, they set them based upon one or both of the two fuels. To set a goal without at least one of them is basically to follow the same course as most New Years resolutions; which generally leads to failure. Most individuals setting out to achieve some sort of resolution at New Years time do so because they have a "want" to achieve. However, since there is no real need to accomplish it and ultimately no passion behind it the drive to achieve dies out within one or two weeks if not sooner.

Need based goals come when there is no other choice; this either happens or there will be severe consequences. Examples of need based goals can be things such as gaining a job within a necessary time period, finishing a fiscally important project on time, raising the funds in order to participate in an event or defeating a disease that threatens life. Failure, for these types of goals, simply is not an option.

Passion based goals are goals much like what Butler is working towards. They have no real need to win the national title but I can guarantee that there is plenty of passion. If failure comes life and circumstances do not really change. The driving force is a deep want and desire that surpasses normal motivation. Athletes are the most visible of passion based goal setters. They have a finish line to cross and to them there is nothing more important than crossing it and doing so first. For the average person, the passion comes through life events. Maybe they have a promotion they are working towards or an activity that they find challenging thus desiring greatly to accomplish it.

If you are setting goals look for goals you have need or a great passion for. Achievement will be far more possible if you do. Goals are not easy to set or achieve but when you have need or passion everything gets a bit easier. What passions and needs do you have?