The Goal Standard: The Psychology of Defining, Pursuing and Achieving What Matters

by Dr. Charles R Chaffin

The Goal Standard challenges the conventional wisdom about goals. Many people, whether individuals navigating personal aspirations, clients working with financial planners, advisors guiding others, or leaders steering teams, pursue goals that are disconnected from their values, context, or long-term vision. Influenced by cultural pressures, emotional impulses, or unclear priorities, we often chase what looks good on paper but feels hollow in practice. This book reframes success not as a checklist of outcomes but as a process of intentional design. It offers a framework for building systems, cultivating habits, and adopting mindsets that support sustainable, values-driven progress. Along the way, it addresses common internal barriers such as procrastination, perfectionism, and fear of failure, while also exploring the external pressures that can distort goal clarity, like information overload, shifting incentives, and organizational inertia. Whether you're an individual looking to set more meaningful goals, a financial advisor helping clients define and pursue what matters, or a leader shaping culture and performance within a team or organization, The Goal Standard provides practical insights and tools to guide the way. It helps readers navigate the complex emotional, cognitive, and financial dimensions of goal pursuit, empowering them to move from scattered effort to focused, fulfilling action. The Goal Standard addresses goal formation for: Individuals - understanding the habits that build success, the motivations that sustain it, and the strategies to adapt as you grow. Financial planners - helping clients design goals that reflect their identity and values, and recognizing when those goals no longer serve their best interests. Planners who can tap into turning numbers into intrinsic goals that drive positive behavior can have long and productive client relationships. Organizations - aligning individual, team, and organizational goals to create lasting engagement and progress. At the end of each chapter are exercises for organizations and individuals geared to the topic covered in that chapter. Key Topics Covered: Goal formation, including the role of identity in goal formation Goal setting, including the importance of motivation, the goal-setting frameworks, and planning for success Goal completion, including changing habits through Neuroscience, barriers to success, taking a goal break, and team goals Goal continuance, including the value of time, aging and goals, and retirement goals