Welcome back. During the last post we talked about the benefits of having goals. This time were are going to focus a little more on the nuts and bolts on setting goals. First I would like to make the distinction between having goals and having dreams. Dreams can be getting 6 pack abs or becoming a ridiculously rich. Goals would be going to the gym 3 days a week, or conducting a meeting with you boss to outline getting a promotion by end of the month. Do you see the difference? Dreams are the end results and goals are the steps you use to reach your dreams. When it comes to dreams, let them be want ever you want. Dream as big and as outlandish as you want! The only rule is that they must be important to you.
Goals on the other hand, have to be a little more structured in order to be effective. The SMART method for goal setting is an excellent format to structure your goals. There are tons of websites out there that go in detail but below is a quick snapshot.
S (Specific) – Really drill down on what it is you are trying to achieve. What would success look like to you.
M (Measurable) – How do you know when you have completed your goal. Is it based on working a certain number of hours, being proficient in a new skill, obtaining a set amount of something. The point is not only knowing where the finish line is but also tracking where you are along the journey.
A (Attainable) – Is it realistic for you to achieve this goal. You don’t want goals that are so simple that by the sheer act of existing you will reach them. Likewise you don’t want goals so unrealistic that you are guaranteed to fail. The sweet spot is to have goals that push you just outside of your comfort zone.
R (Relevant) – You must pick goals that align with your dreams. These need to be important to you, otherwise what is the point.
T (Time) – There has got to be a deadline. A day, a week, a month or a year. It doesn’t matter but you need to set a time frame of when this must be completed.
Now we know what are goals and what are dreams. The only thing remaining is how do we bridge the gap first goal to dream. If you have a dream to get 6 pack abs and you reach your first goals to go to the gym for 3 hours in a week. Now what? I achieved my goal, I don’t feel any closer to my dream, all I feel is tired and sore. There are two strategies that can be utilized.
Strategy 1: Climb and Survey
When you achieve your first goal, you will come to realize new opportunities become available to you. Let say you achieve your goal of going to the gym 3 times a week. Now you can take a look around and see what you can do next. Maybe it is longer workouts, maybe it’s getting a personal trainer, maybe it’s finding the toughest person in the gym and copying their workout. The good thing about this method is that no matter how hard you try and plan there will be things you won’t know until you begin working towards your goals. You could try to doing hours of research to create the perfect workout routine, or after going to the gym for a while have a 5 minute chat with your new gym buddy to create the exact same workout routine. The climb and survey method works very well on goals where you have very little information on how to achieve them.
Strategy 2: Plan backwards.
This is taking your dreams and breaking them down in large unattainable goals. Then taking those goals and breaking them down into smaller and smaller goals until all you have is a bunch of small attainable goals. Let’s pretend your dream is to become the Director of a company. The big goal could be to be promoted to department manager, smaller goal team manager, even smaller goal would be senior staff, even smaller goal would be to achieve all requirements to become senior staff and the smallest attainable goal would be speak to boss to determine all requirements to becoming senior staff. This method works well when you have lots of information available to you.
I find that using both strategies in tandem, yields the best results. Start with the plan backwards method and after you achieve some of your goals look around. See if new opportunities and pathways open up and change your plan accordingly. Next time we will go over goal maintenance and the actual steps in working toward reaching your goals.