Goals vs Desires

One of the stumbling blocks of my past in reaching my personal goals, was that when I set my goals they were dependent upon others behaviors and cooperation to reach them. This ended up in a lot of frustration and discouragement, not to mention a sense of failure. 

For instance if my goal is to have a perfectly clean house all the time, this is bound up to end in frustration because I have a husband who does not have the goal of having a perfect house, nor are his standards of a perfect home the same as mine. Now I could run around all the time and do all the work myself to have this perfect house, but really how successful am I going to be with any consistency? Not very, not to mention I am going to probably be mad and resentful. Having a perfect home then qualifies as a desire, not a goal.

A goal is about me, it's something that I can attain through choices, discipline and efforts. It requires action on my part. It does not include the cooperation of others. A reasonable goal if we use the example of the house would be; 

keeping my things picked up, my drawers neat, the bed made every morning, dinner dishes done before bed. Anything that I can do without the cooperation of others. 

Here's a couple more examples:

It is a desire to have a happy marriage. It is my goal to have a positive attitude with my husband. 

It is my desire to have well behaved children. It is my goal to be consistent and even tempered. 

Goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, and about you...they do not require the cooperation of others in order to attain them. 

Desires are just that desires. A desire is something you want or would like to see. Give your desires to God, and let HIM fill and be the desire of your heart. That is where the ultimate fulfillment is.