Goals vs. Habits?

I just read an article on Farnum Street about habits vs. goals. It got me thinking. I've always been attracted to and somewhat unsatisfied by goals. As a modern day hyper-example, I watched the Rock/Siri 3.5 minute commercial the other day. The Rock, working through a series of 'life goals', uses Siri to accomplish them all in dramatic fashion. While this 3.5 minutes is somewhat exhilarating and entertaining, at the end it struck me as relatively self-serving and meaningless.

So, are all goals like this? I don't know, I don't think so. But the idea that cultivating habits is actually more important/fulfilling than setting goals is an interesting one. After all, habits are what you do everyday. There are certain things we do or ways we think that are how we approach life everyday. And these, of course, will have an impact on the quality of our lives.

But I'm also thinking that it doesn't have to be an either/or thing. We can have big, audacious goals, but then use habits to get there. Or we can have good habits and then set goals to maintain and/or fully experience the fruits of those habits.

The article also got me thinking about what habits I have. Do I have good habits? And can I help other people develop good habits? Or is that up to them?

As a parent and as an accountant I have people either looking at what I do or listening to what I say to do. If I have terrible habits but point my kids in the right direction (i.e. do what I say not what I do) is this effective? OR do we actually have to live out our habits (and then can we say whatever the heck we want?) to be effectively modeling a fulfilling life for our children, clients, employees, etc.

I'll be exploring this and iterations on this for the rest of my life probably...all the while attempting to hone/develop/keep good habits AND set positive/fulfilling/exciting goals.