This post is a little different than others I have done before. Today, we are going to discuss goals, goal setting, and best practices,. There are 5 days left before New Years. There is never a better time to tackle a new goal than right now!
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you know what S.M.A.R.T. goals are. There are other systems that may be just as effective but I like the SMART system because it is simple and that is a very important piece of goal achievement. It should not feel like you are fighting a system to achieve your goals. Achieving ambitious, meaningful goals is hard enough as it is.
S – Specific
Use the 5 W’s to make your goal as specific as possible.
- Who is involved?
- What do you want to achieve?
- When am I going to do this?
- Where am I going to do this?
- Why is this important?
Asking these questions will reinforce your ideas and ensure you are setting goals that you want to accomplish. If you can’t nail it down, you shouldn’t be chasing it. Doing this exercise may also change your perspective and make the goal easier to achieve.
M – Measurable
I guess we have all done it. We have all created goals for ourselves such as ‘Lose weight’ or ‘Make more money’. The problem with goals such as these is that there is no real way to know when it is done or when you have accomplished it. How much weight do you want to lose? Put an exact figure on it. ‘Lose 10 pounds’ or ‘Get my weight down to 180 pounds’ are both infinitely better than ‘Lose weight’. ‘Increase my monthly income by $2000’ or ‘Increase my monthly income to $4000’ are both infinitely better than ‘Make more money’.
If your goal is ‘Lose weight’ and you lose 10 pounds in January and gain 5 pounds in February, you have technically still lost weight but the goal should be your endgame. When you achieve that goal, it should be obvious and you should be able to stand tall and say I achieved that. It makes a massive difference.
It is said that what gets measured, gets managed. If you have a goal that can be measured, you are much more likely to achieve it because it isn’t vague. You are able to gauge your progress over time and you can compare your current state with the desired state and know whether you need to turn on the gas or if you are already on track.
A – Achievable/Attainable
There are two ways to look at this part of a SMART goal and I recommend you use both because they both offer value.
Is your goal attainable? Is it realistic? Is it something you want to do? Are you likely to stick with it till the end?
Is your goal achievable? A good goal will make you stretch to achieve it but it should still be possible. What will you have to change in order to achieve this goal? What new habits will you have to put in place? You should be looking for missed opportunities and ways to change the state of your life to accomplish your goal.
R – Relevant
This section of the goal is extremely important because it can give you insight into your own heart and mind. Why do you want to accomplish this goal? Is this goal you? Does it match with your personality or does it go against who you are? Does it agree with other goals you are currently working through or does it go directly against one or more of them? Why now? Why you? The point of this exercise is to determine your WHY. Your WHY might be the only thing that keeps you going at times so don’t overlook its importance.
T – Time-Bound
Every good goal has a deadline. You should put an exact date on it. Most New Year’s Resolutions have no date stamped on them so they typically die by the end of January. Don’t do that to yourself. Based on your goal, what is a reasonable time frame needed to accomplish it?
Going Beyond S.M.A.R.T.
SMART goals are effective. However, you have to go further if you want great results. Here are four tips for achieving goals that I have found very useful.
First, if you have a year-long goal as most ambitious goals are, it isn’t enough that you have set that goal. You need to break it down. Most goals that take more than a few weeks to accomplish are just too big to wrap our heads around. Start by breaking that goal into parts. What can you accomplish this quarter that will put you on the fast track to achieving that goal? What can you accomplish this month? What about this week? What can you do today? What can you do right now to move forward? Another reason to do this is that it can create a series of smaller wins for you which should increase your overall chances of success and your motivation level.
Second, create a plan. You do not have to be fancy. You can use Trello. You can use Excel. You can use pen and paper. Start by taking the monthly or quarterly goal and listing out all the tasks that have to be done in order to accomplish your goal. Don’t worry too much about accuracy. There isn’t a penalty if you get it wrong. You can always delete it later but list out everything you can think of. Get it out of your head and into a trusted list that you can review to track your progress.
Third, write your goal down. According to research, you are 42% more likely to achieve your goal if you write them down. That is like free money. Why would you not? But don’t just do it once. Grant Cardone is famous for writing his goals down twice daily. Whether or not you like Mr. Cardone, you can definitely take a cue from his success and do the same. Twice a day might be a bit much but once a week is definitely doable and will likely increase your chances of success.
Finally, be consistent. You have your goals broken down into manageable bites but that isn’t getting them any closer to complete. Ideally, you are doing monthly, weekly, and daily planning and review sessions where you review what has been completed and deciding what needs to get done in the upcoming time period to keep you on track or to put you back on track. These sessions can be as simple or elaborate as you would like to make them. Typically, I spend less than 10 minutes in each session but I put a lot of thought into the session before it happens.
Conclusion
I hope you found this post helpful. Goal setting is one of the most important factors in the success of our lives. I am really looking forward to 2019 and I am determined to make it my best year ever.