What is the difference between aim and target?

Aim and Target. These two words are interchangeable words, but these terms are often confusing.

I will try to explain these two terms by giving an example. Your aim may be to shoot an arrow. But if you want to shoot the arrow to 12 which is your target. It means that aim and target are not the same issues. As I said, they are very close to each other and we should not be confused with them.

One can say that I will go to California via his/her own car. This is his/her aim. But he/she wants to arrive in California at 10 hours. Now, this is the target of his/her.

As the last example, one might say: “I want to improve the efficiency of this engine”. This sentence shows aim and it is uncertain. One can ask how you will improve the efficiency or what your target is. In other words, the mountaineer wants to climb the mountain but which mountain? Is it Everest or others? If we add our target to the aim, the aim will be clear and significant. Lets’ turn back to the engine example, if another one says: “I would like to improve the aim by 10%.”, his or her sentence will be meaningful.

Based on the above examples, the target has several percentages. The aim is thought, and the goal is action. This subject is vital when writing an academic suggestion. In any suggestion, it is really easy to write the aim but it is not easy to write about the target part. The target must be optimized. Higher and lower target is not realistic. So, writing a good suggestion is completely related to knowing the subject.

Suggestion is not only valid for writing but also it is for personal development in our life. Imagine that a student is studying his/her exam. In that case, the aim is just to pass exam or get a higher mark. The student must choose or decide on a target. It is acceptable if an undergraduate student just wants to pass an exam. If a student wants to get a master’s degree or to be a master’s student, he or she must get a higher mark. This is the target.

Graduated students are looking for job as unemployed, but they do not know their talent or their target. Otherwise, the companies can accept them as a worker, but the worker cannot be successful and this makes them unhappy. Thus, Monday will be a horror day for them.

If somebody mentions about “aim”, one can ask the following questions starting with “W” as “When?”, “Where?”, “with whom?” or “for what?”

As Senaca said: “No wind blows in favor of a ship without direction.”