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As 2008 approaches, people around the world are coming up with new year’s resolutions. Quite frankly, a resolution is a resolve to meet a objective, so why don’t we come up with goals instead? Maybe then, we might actually keep them.
Why We Fail To Reach Our Goals
There are a few problems with most of our goals, especially those that ring in the new year:
they require a colossal amount of commitment that we don’t recognize upfront
they are not SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely)
we often have an entire year to complete them, leading to procrastination
we do not outline plans to complete them
we get discouraged when we don’t see instant results
we do not choose goals that we have the passion to achieve
Here’s an example: My goal for 2008 is to lose 20 pounds by June.
Okay. At first this seems like a great goal. This goal is attainable (through dieting and exercise), measurable (20 lbs), realistic (losing about one pound per week), and timely (June 1st), so it has some elements of a SMART goal. To lose one pound per week we can cut 250 calories from our diet per day and walk 30 minutes per day, so we know the time commitment and have a plan. So why do we make this same resolution every year and never reach our goal?
Choosing A Good Goal
We fool ourselves into thinking we’ve created a good goal, but the truth is we usually create bad goals. So here is how to stop creating bad goals that will never be reached, and start creating good goals.
Step #1 – Start dreaming. If your life were exactly what you wanted, what would it be like? Where would you live? How much money would you make? What would you look like? Who would you spend your time with? What would your job be? How would you spend your day? You need to figure out what you truly desire. Go crazy. Dream the most ridiculous things. Then write them down so you can move on to…
Step #2 – Stop dreaming. Look at your list of crazy goals. Choose one or two that would make you extremely happy to achieve. Now that you have your focus goal(s), go to…
Step #3 – Think of things you could realistically do this year (or whatever time frame you choose) that would bring you closer to reaching your chosen goals. These are your tasks.
Here’s an example. Let’s say I want to live in Italy, make $200,000 a year, be 120 pounds, be married, have 3 best girlfriends who truly understand me, design my own clothing line, and spend my time schmoozing with celebrities, designers, artists, fashion editors, and stylists.
Now I’m going to choose “design my own clothing line” as my focus goal. What could I accomplish this year to get me closer to that goal?
Hmm. I don’t actually know how to sew. So let’s make “learning to sew” my goal.
Breaking Down Each Goal
Great. You have a goal or set of goals. Now it’s time to break each goal down into different subgoals. When you are finished, each subgoal becomes a new goal and for each new goal you need to perform a litmus test, which will be explained in further detail in a minute. For the litmus test you ask yourself, does this goal require any more than a one-time commitment? If it does, you must break the goal into more subgoals. Once you feel all of your subgoals pass the litmus test, sort them chronologically and start adding realistic dates.
The One-Time Commitment
What is a one-time commitment? Anything that requires you to take action only once. Continuing with my example, “practice sewing every day this year for 30 minutes” is not a one-time commitment. “Purchase the book Sewing For Dummies and read to completion by Jan. 12th” is a one-time commitment. Do you see the difference? Which are you more likely to complete? The goal that requires you to commit 365 times or the goal that requires you to commit once?
Why Does This Work?
When we break down our goals using the method described above, they get very SMART and, because of the short deadlines that naturally come about, we see results instantly. The commitment for each smaller goal is very little, and we can more accurately measure how much time we have to give to this goal. We essentially create a project timeline that is manageable in small chucks.
Goal-Making Is Serious Business
This sounds like a lot of work, and that’s because it is a lot of work. If you are willing to do the work, however, you are more likely to actually reach your goals this years. So why not make a one-time commitment to spend an hour trying this exercise for yourself? Remember, you don’t need a new year to start reaching your goals… there’s no time like the present.
What do you think of this exercise? Will it be helpful as you continue to make goals, in the new year and beyond? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section. It might be your idea that sparks a conversation!
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Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
i would very much agree with using the SMART technique – but that can be a little long winded, what matters most i think is knowing that it’s measurable, so you can gauge yourself along the way. That being said, I have taken on projects at work that are probably not realistic, nor attainable…why? For money. That’s why SMART isn’t always applied.
Sometimes a good technique would be to dive in and commit to one of your dreams (cause as you’d stated Start Dreaming!…and that’s rather important) in a way that you now have to do something about what you’ve committed to.
http://variableinterest.blogspot.com/2008/01/taking-two-hits-planning-again.html
…like this when I should have just goshdarn applied to the program I was interested in!
It’s very situational of course, this whole goals thing, and I applaud your Step #1: start dreaming. Whithout those we go nowhere. The hard part is to move on from dreaming only.
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