Bill CanadyCEO & Founder, The 80/20 Institute · Be a Great CEO: Learn how to Fix it, Grow it, & Sell it.

Are Your Goals REAL? They Should Cost Something! #shorts

21 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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0:37

In this concise YouTube short, Bill Canady outlines practical criteria for determining whether a goal is genuine. He stresses that a real goal must be anchored to a specific date or month that falls within the planning horizon, ensuring it is measurable and time‑bound. The goal must also align with the individual's broader direction or strategy. Finally, he introduces an informal fourth test: achieving the goal should require saying no to something—if a goal can be reached without sacrificing revenue, resources, or disappointing anyone, it is merely a forecast, not a true goal. Real goals, he asserts, always cost something at the moment they are set.

Chapters

3, does it name a date, an actual month, not this year, not over the plan horizon, a date you can be behind? Does it actually line up with where you're going? And here's an informal 4th one I'd apply before I sign my name to it. Does achieving this goal require you to say no to something? If the goal can be reached without stopping anything, without walking away from any revenue, without disappointing anyone, It's probably not a real goal. It's a forecast. You're trying to make too many people happy here. Goal's to win. Real goals cost something on the day you set them. Remember that.