Beyond SMART – setting goals that work

When SMART is not enough
Goals are key factor in all aspects of our lives. They help us focus our energies, and progress in the right direction. But in order for this to happen, we have to learn how to set the right goals for ourselves. I have already discussed here in the past the notion of setting SMART goals, and the magic that starts happening when you do it right.

Setting SMART goals is a practice which I use regularly for myself, and with my team. We are all so accustomed to this in SharedBook R&D, that setting SMART goals has practically become our second nature.

And yet, sometimes, SMART is simply not enough. Yes, the goal is Realistic, Attainable, Specific and all, but something is missing. That sparkle that motivates us, that gets us moving in the right direction. I have been pondering about this for quite some time now, how come some goals work for us, and get this special magic happening, and some don’t.

The journey is as important as the end goal
Lately, I have accomplished a personal goal I’ve set for myself one year ago: I completed a half IronMan triathlon for the first time. Yes, it was SMART, but there was something more. All my energies were focused, I was highly motivated, and over and over again throughout the past year I found myself doing impossible things, breaking records, overcoming challenges. Yes, reaching my goal was amazing, but what makes it even more meaningful for me is the journey, and the way it made me grow and expand. I found myself discovering new things about myself, stepping out of my comfort zone again and again and expanding it.  

Trying to make this magic happen again, and set a new goal for myself was challenging. Setting a new SMART goal for myself was easy, but suddenly SMART wasn’t enough. The magic didn’t happen, the goal didn’t work.

SMARTer goals: Goals are a means to an end
And then I came across this interesting quote from Anthony Robbins:

“Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it's who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.”

And suddenly, it made sense to me: we all want to expand and to grow. When we find a way to define our goal, in a way that reaching it makes us realize that we have grown in some way, expanded our knowledge, acquired new skills, overcame challenges we’ve never faced before – the goal works for us. It motivates us. And it gets this magic going… making us do things we’ve never thought were possible for us.

So now, I’ve managed to define my next goal, a SMARTer goal, and indeed it gets me motivated again.

What’s your next SMARTer goal?    

Comments

[Dan]

If you'd like a tool for setting your goals, you can use this web application:

http://www.Gtdagenda.com

You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version is available too.