As we launch into a new year, I want to tell you about a great idea I got from Michael Hyatt–SMARTER Goals for 2017. You’ve probably heard of SMART goals, which were made famous by General Electric. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable (or Agreed Upon), Realistic and Time-keyed. Millions of leaders have used this method to set and accomplish their goals. I’ve always struggled with maintaining the motivation I need to accomplish my goals the “SMART” way.
Hyatt’s “SMARTER” formulation changes things up a bit, and makes goal setting and accomplishing the goal both more challenging and more interesting. Here’s what his acronym represents: Specific, Measurable, Actionable (requires action!), Risky (the goal is realistic, but involves a measure of risk in accomplishing, Time-keyed, Exciting (Self-explanatory!) and Relevant (makes sense given one’s current life situation.) As I’ve planned and reflected using the SMARTER system, I find myself looking forward to reviewing my goals and taking action every day.
Hyatt recommends setting no more than 7-10 major goals for the entire year so as not to be overwhelmed by them, and also to make the probability of accomplishing them greater. While I’m summarizing a great deal of material in a few paragraphs, the key for me–and I know it has a lot to do with my ENFP (Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorO personality–is the elements of being actionable, risky and exciting that makes a major difference. As I review my goals and look for one action I can take each day to move toward accomplishing one of my goals I’m challenged by the risk and excited intellectually and emotionally by the possibility of working them through to completion.
It’s only January 2nd, so there’s no saying for sure that SMARTER goals will actually mean greater completion rates, but I can say this–I have never been more enthusiastic about accomplishing my goals, or even setting goals in the first place than I have been over the past week as I’ve been closing out 2016 and planning for 2017. I hope you’ve been setting some time aside to do the same. After all, we need to know where we’ve been in order to set a course for where we’re going.
One major change I’ll be making to Helping Leaders Lead Better for at least the first quarter of 2017 is I’ll be posting three days a week: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’m committed to posts that will make you and me better leaders as we progress through 2017, so I want to invest more time in fewer posts so they will have maximum value. If you have any particular topics you need to see addressed in 2017, please send a comment my way and I’ll do my best to address your questions, and suggested areas.
Here’s to leading better by setting SMARTER goals–today!