Go from ‘Goal-Changer’ to ‘Goal-Doer’.
After posting about Warren Buffets’ 25/5 rule for goal setting, I had some conversations about defining a goal. Regardless of the size of your goals, if they’re important to you, then it makes for a good goal. First and foremost, there is no such thing as a poor goal. However, I did see a common theme on ways people can improve the clarity of their goals. Here are some of the highlights I gathered from those conversations.
Here’s the agenda
- 2 Pitfalls in Goal-Setting
- Tasks v. Goals v. Wishes
- S.M.A.R.T Methodology
2 Pitfalls in Goal-Setting
One question seems to come up repeatedly in my consulting efforts, “is this a good goal?”. With that mindset, two pitfalls become blatantly clear. The first being that the goal is too specific; it isn’t a goal at all but a daily activity. The second pitfall being, the goal is too broad; you could fit multiple attainable goals inside it. Instead of having five goals, you have twelve disguised as five. I decided to categorize them as follows:
Tasks v. Goals v. Wishes
- Tasks: These are often written out as “Do X daily”. Tasks tend to be about establishing positive habits. They can be written in the same style of a to-do list for that day, week, or greater. Several tasks that support a single goal can become a strategy, but they aren’t goals. These strategies can become paramount to your success. Look at strategy as a long open road and the tasks are the vehicles that get you from point A to B.
For example, if your goal was to ‘Run a Marathon’, you might see ‘routine stretching’ or ‘to drink a gallon of water each day’. Individually those are tasks, combined they are a strategy to achieve your goal.
- Wishes: On New Years, my mom would wish people happiness, healthiness, and prosperity. I noticed similarly large and ambiguous goals on people’s lists. A wish would often be written extremely broad or intentionally written to include multiple goals.
Take the ‘run-a-marathon’ example again. A wish might show up as “be healthy” or “lose weight” or a combination of the two. Sure, while training for a marathon could lead to losing weight, it’s not nearly as effective as adjusting your nutrition or sticking to a fitness regimen.
The issue with ‘wishes’ is that you run into pursuing a dozen large goals at the same time. Effectively, making little progress toward any single one of them. Goal setting requires sacrifice.
- Goals: You know a good one when you see one. The first similarity, from one list to another, tends to be the goal showing up as the first or second item on the list. There’s a subconscious reason for this occurrence. If they’re important to you - you’re going to list them early on.
My observation is that goals create tasks, but tasks do not create goals.
S.M.A.R.T Methodology
The SMART method is my favorite methodology for establishing goals. By adopting a process that can be refined and improved as time moves forward, you give yourself a better chance of accomplishing what you initially set out to do. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.
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Specific - be able to state your goal (and what you want) clearly.
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Measurable - be able to quantify your results.
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Attainable - be mindful of the requirements, credentials, and experience necessary to accomplish the goal.
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Relevant - be sure the goal aligns with your values and interests.
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Timely - be able to have a date to evaluate progress or, even better, have a set deadline for completion.
Bringing back the example of ‘running-a-marathon’ one final time, the only two considerations would be setting a date and factoring in your current conditioning. Using this methodology, a SMART goal would change run-a-marathon to “Run the Kings Mountain Marathon on October 9th, 2021”.
It’s specific. You’ve named the exact marathon you plan to run. It’s measurable. You know it’s over once you run 26.2 miles. It’s attainable. There’s enough time to condition for the event. It’s relevant. As long as you value distance running and you’re interested in it! Finally, it’s timely. You know the date on which you’d have to accomplish it.
A good SMART goal is written in a way in which you know exactly what you need to accomplish. Sure, I could spin off registering for the event or sticking to a weekly training program, but those are tasks to give a good strategy for success.
Is there anything I missed? Is there a topic you’d like me to cover? Feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment!
Thanks for reading!