As I mentioned on Monday, today we’re going to look at goal setting. Goal setting has never been one of my strengths. I’ve always been great at seeing the big picture and stepping out in faith to accomplish a big vision. What I haven’t been so great at is setting goals to break the vision down into more manageable chunks in order to see it become a reality. One of the most helpful processes I’ve found for setting goals has come from Michael Hyatt. While I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, repetition is the mother of learning, and while you may not need the reminder, I certainly do.
What Hyatt has done for us when it comes to goal setting is to take the old “SMART” goal acronym and made it “SMARTER.” While SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound; Hyatt has changed the original five aspects and added two additional ones. His “SMARTER” goals are specific, measurable, actionable, risky, time-bound, exciting and relevant. For me the two aspects of “SMARTER” goals that makes them more likely for me to achieve them are risky rather than reasonable, and exciting.
When a goal is reasonable, someone with my personality isn’t challenged to action, but risky adds the challenge. While a goal being reasonable is a helpful quality, because there’s no sense setting unreasonable goals, being reasonable isn’t something that motivates me as much as it being risky. A risky goal is challenging. By definition when something is risky it isn’t automatic. It will take great effort. For example, back in August of 2016 I set the risky goal of losing 32 pounds by the end of January. It was risky, because 32 pounds is a lot of weight. It wasn’t unreasonable, because it was only a little more than a pound per week which is quite reasonable. It was risky, though, because over the previous five months I had gained about fifteen pounds, so I wasn’t heading in the direction of losing 32.
The goal was also exciting to me, because over the years I have weighed 190 pounds, which my 32 pound weight loss goal would have me weighing once ago. At that weight life is better. Exercise is easier, and simply walking around or bending over to tie my shoes is much simpler. I was looking forward to weighing 190 pounds, and the thought of clothes fitting better was an added incentive.
Let me explain the one other added letter in the “SMARTER” goal framework, the second “r”: relevant. Hyatt explains that a goal has to be relevant to the season of life we are in at the time. For example, losing 32 pounds was relevant for me, because I wasn’t going through any kind of situation or season that would have made it impossible. The reality is I did achieve the goal. By the end of January I weighed 189 pounds. Nothing encourages additional goal setting like succeeding at accomplishing a goal. The goal was part of an overall vision of becoming more effective in every area of my life and more engaged in serving Jesus. While I’ll be turning 60 in June of this year, I see this new decade as one in which I can be more effective than ever, so long as I engage it fully. Thus, the goal of weighing 190 pounds.
I’ve actually changed the goal to living in the range of 187-193 pounds, because I have lost weight in the past only to have it “return” over time. The six pound range is reasonable, but it’s also a bit risky for me, because I’ve seldom sustained such a range after attaining it. It’s also exciting to me because I know I’ll be more productive in that range over the long haul. It is certainly relevant for my season of life.
You may not need the elements of risk and excitement in order to attain or maintain your goals. SMART goals may work well for you. If your personality is more like mine, though and the elements of risk and excitement motivate you, you may well find adding that pair of traits to your goal setting will make the difference.
Here’s to leading better, by setting “SMARTER” goals–today!