Setting Goals: Be S.M.A.R.T. or you will F.A.I.L.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed so you don't miss anything or Follow me on Twitter

Working at various companies I’ve come across goal-setting time over and over again. Its the time of year when you set goals, sometimes arbitrary, sometimes aligned with the business goals. Sometimes the goals don’t even have anything to do with your performance review or raises. Why do companies do this? Well without goals, we just sort of roam about aimlessly. With goals there are things that stay in your mind. When you have 10mins to spare you squeeze in some effort towards a goal.

“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else!”

- Yogi Berra

I’ve come across the acronym SMART for goal-setting. It is very simple but it is amazing how often we fail at reaching our goals when one of the elements is missing from our goals.

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

Specific
A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who: Who is involved?
*What: What do I want to accomplish?
*Where: Identify a location.
*When: Establish a time frame.
*Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
*Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Reduce expenses”. A specific goal might be “Reduce car expense by car-pooling 3 times a week and working from home 2 days a week.”

Measurable
Establish solid criteria for measuring progress. When you measure your progress, you tend to stay on track. When you reach your target dates you’ll experience the thrill of achievement. This in turn feeds your continued efforts required to complete your goal. Make sure to measure at specified intervals. Write it down and measure when the time comes.

Determine if your goal is measurable. Ask yourself: How many? How much? When will I know it is accomplished. Set the criteria that will define completion.

Attainable
After identifying your goals, you’ll be figuring out how to accomplish them. You can set some items that you will do to attain your goal. Ie. “Lost 15 lbs by Christmas.” You can say it is attainable because you will: “Join the gym and workout 2 times a week, Go for a walk twice a week, Eliminate desert in all your meals.” These things make it more attainable because now you’ve incorporated into your goals some steps to achieve it. Your goals become more attainable when you do this and don’t seem as far-fetched.

Realistic
A goal must represent an objective toward which you are willing and able to work. It can be a high goal and realistic. In the end you are the only one who can decide how high your goal should be. Often a high goal is more motivating and the thrill of accomplishment is higher.

You’ll know if you goal is realistic. If you think you can achieve it then it is probably realistic.

Timely

If you don’t set a time-frame on your goal, then it has a higher chance of failure. Time limits create urgency. “Get fit” with no time limit leads itself to failure. “Lose 5lbs by Class Reunion.” Lends itself more to success. By setting time limits, you will keep the goal in mind. You won’t be able to defer it as you’ll know you are risking failure by doing so.

On John Chow’s website he says

Do you know how to tell a successful person from a unsuccessful one? The easiest way is by the language they use. When you talk to a successful person about his goals, he’ll tell you what he plans to do and when it will be done. When an unsuccessful person talks about his goals (assuming he even has one), you’ll hear something along the lines of, “I hope to do this someday.” Here’s a clue for all you losers out there; someday never comes.

Dax and S.M.A.R.T. goals

I’m using this paradigm to set some goals for myself for a project that I never got off the ground. I’m not a hypocrite (at least not most of the time p) by recommending something to you and not following it myself.

I’ve been meaning to start an investment group for offshore real estate investing for some time. “Some day”, and “Eventually” were words that best describe that goal.

A few days ago I decided to partner with someone that Is more of a doer. Don’t get me wrong he’s a thinker also, but he definitely follows the above paradigm. One thing I’ve learned is that you have to accommodate for your own weaknesses. This is also what I seek in a partner – to be complimentary to my own skills/tendencies.

We sat down and set goals:
1. By March 30, we will have incorporated our company.
2. By April 15, we will have our first project identified.
3. By April 15, we will have met with the accountant to determine our accounting strategies.
4. By May 30, we will be fully funded
5. By June 15, we will have closed our first deal.

I must admit, at first the deadlines scared me. Then I realized once we started itemizing steps to achieve each goal how attainable they really were. Why was I failing up to this point on this particular goal? Its because I was missing some elements – Timely & Attainable. Once those came into the picture suddenly things are moving at what seems to be light-speed.

Note:  F.A.I.L.  doesn’t stand for anything.  Just thought I’d be creative.  If you have any ideas what it stands for or what it should stand for leave a comment.