What the gurus don’t / won’t tell you about SMART goals!
I‘m sure you’ve already heard or read a lot about “goal-setting” as we transition into the new year…
How’s it working for you?
Sometimes it seems depressing to review last years goals, only to realize that I set them too high and didn’t reach them or that some just got away from me altogether.
For example, I used to write down my goal of, “Get my pilot’s license by the end of this year.” But it didn’t work. The next year I wrote, “Get my pilot’s license by December 31, 20xx.” Thinking that a specific date was better (even if I allowed myself the entire year to get it done.) I even kept pictures of airplanes around as my motivation and reminder…
Still didn’t work.
Then I did something the goal-setting gurus don’t tell you…
And it wasn’t S.M.A.R.T… I wrote on my to-do list, “Go down to the airport and sign-up for flying lessons.” That I could do. And did. Now I’ve had my pilot’s license for many years. The end result can be a great goal, but the starting act is the operative action that gets the ball rolling. From now on, set that as your goal.
Here are some other ideas:
- Lose 20 lbs → Take the Butts & Guts class at the gym every Tue & Thu. (Add it to your smart phone with the alarm set!)
“The best exercise is the one you’ll do!” Better yet, determine what you will do… So, what can you do that you’ll look forward to, enjoy the people, and maybe even have it contribute to your business…? - Make $20,000 / month → Schedule and give 20 presentations each week.
- Organize my office → Throw away everything I’ll never use.
Notice I left out the deadlines. I don’t know what psychologists call this, but it also seems to remove the resistance to taking action.
I couldn’t wait to go to the airport to sign up for flying lessons, I even went to the karate school and signed-up for karate lessons! My ultimate goals were to get my pilot’s license and a black belt. And, once started, continuing took care of itself.
Start with your starting points
Even in your business goal-setting, you can follow these ideas:
- Hire key manager to oversee product development → Write the job description for our Product Development Manager (On our HR dashboard, you have access to 700+)
- Eliminate / minimize potential risks if possible → List and prioritize potential risks
- Buy top-ranking in search engines for select key words/phrases → Determine our best keywords to use for SEO
- Fix software problems causing unnecessary technical support calls → Meet with tech support people and review current issues
So, even for long range, complicated goals, the trick is to break them down and find their starting point… put that on your immediate to-do list.
For some further ideas, listen to my podcast…
“The Antidote to Goal Setting“
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