Now we have our vision and our mission, we need to put some flesh on our broad mission objective. Being specific and realistic are the keys to success as we move from overarching statements to definite pragmatism. Let’s begin looking at developing possible goals.
Goals have to be specific, which means something quantifiable. If you can’t measure it, handle it or qualify it then it is not an effective goal. Saying something like: ‘I want to be good/happy/ rich/spiritual’ is about as useful as going into a greengrocers and telling the assistant ‘I want to buy some fruit.’ It would be more helpful, but only just, if you said ‘I would like some stone fruit.’ Even better still would be ‘I want to buy three peaches and a pound of plums.’
Fat versus thin words
The more thin (precise) you can be with a goal the better.
For example:
I want a companion animal.
Pet is better than animal,
Dog is better than pet,
Terrier is better than dog,
Jack Russell is better than terrier.
This will make sure that you do not end up with an Eclectus parrot or an Utsurimono koi; both can however make great companions.
We call words which cover a class of something such as family, pets, tools, vehicles, etc., ‘fat’ words and they are just not helpful. Fat words do have their place. Politicians are great at these sorts of words as part of their regular sound bites. They want ‘the best for the country and the future’, which means being efficient with resources and ensuring that we have a labour force which has the skills, guided by effective senior management with the vision to ensure that our children and our children’s children, not forgetting the aged, etc., etc. All said with a resounding ‘here, here’ from the backbench supporters of all hues. Why? Because from this plethora of fat words each person will have their own interpretation of what is being said, adding the specifics of their own preferential choosing. Everyone would agree that to be successful you must get back to basics; the problem is whose basics?
Realistic means just what it says – it has to be possible. For example Khagendra Thapa Magar from Nepal who stands just 65.5 cm tall cannot, as the smallest man in the world, however hard he tries or no matter how much time he puts in, achieve a goal of being like my friend Jesse White (an Australian AFL athlete) who stands a perfectly proportioned man at 197 cm. Let alone Ajaz Ahmed, the world’s tallest living person at the time of writing, who is a meagre 254 cms.
SMARTI goals
As you write out your goals you will find that you become committed to them. You might have a great memory as far as your goals are concerned but the contingencies of everyday life have a way of ensuring that they are easily overlooked. When you write your goal employing the SMARTI format detailed below, there can be no doubt about whether or not you have achieved that goal.
Specific
Goals have to be specific which means something quantifiable. If you cannot measure it, handle it or qualify it then it is not an effective goal. Saying something like: ‘I want to be good/happy/ rich/spiritual’ is about as useful as, as we have shown, going into a travel agent and saying you want a holiday.
Measurable
A goal that cannot be quantified in terms of money, percentages, length or breadth, weight or time is not a goal. For example, ‘I will spend more time with my partner’ or ‘I will lose weight’ are not goals. However, ‘My partner and I will have at least one “date night” once a month’ and ‘I will lose 5 kilos’ are goals because you can measure whether you have achieved them or not.
Achievable
All goals should have some ‘stretch’ in them: achievable with effort; just out of reach at present but not out of sight. For example, I will lose ‘5 kilos in two weeks’ is just not possible without radical surgery.
Realistic
Realistic means just what it says – it has to be possible.
Time-bound
Again this means what it says – within a specific time period. Yes, you could lose 5 kilos but by when? To lose 5 kilos in six months is achievable, measurable, possible and time-bound.
Four types of goal behaviour
Interestingly, there are basically four types of goal behaviour, but only one of them is anywhere near successful in goal achievement. It’s the one that implements the following formula:
Energy + Focus = Commitment
Energy here is not about being busy; it’s easy to be busy but not effective. It’s about powering forward. Focus is not about seeing everything perfectly but seeing everything that matters perfectly.
These two essential forces combine to make commitment or action. That commitment gives you the discipline not to be swayed by distractions, and to overcome slippage and setbacks. It also warns you when any of those impulses tempt you to digress from the main game, keeping you on the fast track to achieving your goals.
The four types of goal behaviour are:
The postponer
We start with the worst. Each year the postponer wins the ‘Round to it Award’, because when they get close to the crucial action they somehow never quite get ‘round to it’. Their pontificating on what they are going to do is worthy of a Roman orator. They will remind you of the truism ‘when all is said and done, more is always said than done’. Some fear failure so never take the first step from the base camp to the mountain called Achievement.
The muddled
For this person so many things are going on all at once. They are so busy putting out little fires that they do not notice the next fire starting up, or put in place fire prevention strategies. As someone once said, ‘It’s difficult to remember that you are draining the lake when you are up to your bottom in alligators!’These people are energetic and they work hard and with enthusiasm just like the rodent on a treadmill – going fast, going in circles, going nowhere.
The loner
This person suffers from goal hyperopia; they are so close to the action but their eyesight is blurred. They can see the big picture and describe it perfectly, but can’t do anything about it. Loners know they need the honey but just stare at the flowers.
The doers
These are the people that have the right concoction of focus and energy, the elixir of achievement, combining focus and energy, demolishing uncertainty and roadblocks. They are on track, on time and onto success.
The goal behaviour matrix
On the next page is a diagram which illustrates how these elements are combined.
Reflect on a couple of goals that you have set yourself in the past which you have not achieved. Do you place yourself in one of the boxes 1 to 3 on the diagram? This is not to shame you, but so that you can understand whether in future you should concentrate on improving either your energy or your focus, guaranteeing that your current goals will not be frustrated.
Nature is not fair in her distribution of gifts. Some of you will naturally have more energy, and others better powers of focus and attention, but everyone can advance and improve on the gifts that they are naturally given.
Setting milestones
On your journey towards your goal, set predetermined milestones along the way. These landmarks can be thought of as sub-parts of the final goal which need to be achieved in sequence. A simple example would be where the goal is to build a house and the milestones would be completing the foundations, then the walls and then the roof. On the completion of each milestone, reward yourself.
Setting rewards
What is interesting about rewards is that they actually increase your commitment and your motivation. To keep yourself motivated, celebrate when you have achieved a milestone. Revel in the satisfaction of having reached your sub-goal. One way to do this is to develop a reward schedule for yourself, your family or friends to measure everyone’s progress and celebrate together.
- Break each goal down into milestones along the way and give yourself a small reward each and every time you pass a milestone. Rewards could be, for example, a bottle of your favourite wine or a trip to the cinema.
- When you achieve your goal a big self-reward is justified. We remember the big reward just as much as we do the actual achievement. Enjoy large rewards for big achievements: buying some clothing or jewellery, taking your partner away for the weekend, or treating yourself to a holiday.
- Your rewards should be highly personal. We are all motivated by different things so select something that will make your heart sing and keep your motivation high for the next goal.
- Remember, as you reward yourself let your ‘inner voice’ say ‘I am doing this because I have just ...’ so that you connect your behaviour with the reward. This fulfils the psychological maxim ‘what gets positively rewarded leads to repeated positive behaviour’.
Setting goal priorities
Take the following list, presented alphabetically, and re-order the items, ranking them according to your life so far to construct your list of near-term priorities. Don’t group together or merge any of the items.
Other (please specify) ____________________________
My top five goal priorities at this time are:
- _____________________________________
- _____________________________________
- _____________________________________
- _____________________________________
- _____________________________________
Understanding your priorities gives you a concrete tool for evaluating your life options. It helps you decide which are most important for you and how you should allocate your time, effort and investment to achieve the goal.
Personal goals (short- and long-term)
Take the five goal priorities you have written above and set them out on a sheet of A4 paper.
Under each of the priorities write three SMARTI goals. The more SMARTI you make your goals as you write them, the more tangible they become. Written words tend to become fixed in our minds, which is why it’s good to commit them to paper – another reason for keeping a log book.
Your short-term goals should dovetail and support your long-term goals. Obvious but true: if you know where you are going you are more likely to get there. Also, having long-term goals gives your life structure. In my consultancy practice we have worked with many executives who, at the age of 50, have found themselves in an organisational cul-de-sac. When asked why they took their last job, many reply, ‘Because it was offered to me’. They did not ask themselves, ‘How does this fit into my five-year plan?’ with the result that they are stuck and unable to move forward.
Of course you can review your goals, amending them if necessary or as and when your situation changes. It is impossible to predict what will happen in the future but having a plan is better than drifting. At the end of the year you might like to reassess the categories based on any changes in your experience and situation.
Short-term goals
My short-term goals (possible within one year)
Family and significant others:
- ______________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Health and fitness
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Professional growth
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Financial security
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Career
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Life balance
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Long-term goals
Short-term goals are rather like a springboard to help you to achieve in the future. For instance, to be the CFO of a significant organisation with a turnover of €100 million, you need to achieve your short-term goals such as a professional qualification and perhaps an MBA and do the hard yards of working and moving up the hierarchy (project manager to management accountant to financial analyst to group accountant) to get to CFO. The next jump could be to CEO. (Off the topic but some valuable career advice: If you are ambitious then apply the ‘get, gobble and go’ strategy. Don’t stay in a job to enjoy the successes you’ve achieved but use those successes as leverage to the next appropriate promotion. In this way you move so fast that your failures do not catch up with you!)
My long-term goals (possible within five years)
Family and significant others:
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Health and fitness
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Professional growth
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Financial security
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Career
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
Life balance
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
To give you a ‘reality’ check discuss your short- and long-term goals with your partner and with someone whose opinion you trust – a family member, best friend, mentor, coach, etc.
 | ‘The greatest danger in life for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.’ Michelangelo Buonarroti |
| ‘Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.’ T.S. Eliot, poet |
Planning your route
You have now gained a thorough understanding of yourself and undertaken a rigorous fitness regime for self-development, including setting your short- and long-term goals. You have all the tools you need to get going. But do you know where you are going?
It is trite but right: ‘If you fail to plan then you plan to fail.’ It’s of no use knowing what you want and where you want to go unless you have a plan. A map for the journey is essential. Not having a plan reminds me of two people heading down the motorway at top speed and one saying to the other, ‘Where are we going?’, only to get the reply, ‘Who cares – we are making great time’.
- give you greater focus on your chosen destination and what exactly you want to achieve
- enable you to set the benchmark or standard that you wish to achieve
- help you anticipate potential difficulties and how you might overcome them
- ensure you have the resources you need
- gather the advice you need.
The benefits of planning
Planning will:
- help you visualise the promise of the future by cutting through clutter
- enable you to co-ordinate effort
- allow you to iron out the wrinkles in your goal
- help you to size up your performance and measure your progress
- enable you to put contingencies in place
- give you the tools you need to deal with sudden and unexpected problems
- reveal roadblocks
- give you a clear picture of how different tasks and activities interact to ensure success
- stimulate your thinking
- lead you onward and upward by providing the stimulation you need to avoid dead-ends and blind alleys
- act as a catalyst for new insights and ideas
- offer an exit plan
- give you a sneak preview of what is expected and allow you to judge for yourself if the investment is worth the risk
- serve as an early warning system, allowing you to bow out gracefully rather than be thrown out later on
- save you a long time in regret and misery.
The benefits of planning sound almost too good to be true. But, this time, the hype is legitimate. Planning is everything it’s cut out to be. Perfect the use of planning and you will win many battles by default.
Having a plan in your head is not as effective as having a written plan. In the latter you will find that your thoughts develop a life of their own and become a potential reality, a springboard for action. Have you ever gone shopping knowing everything you want and returned home only to realise that you have forgotten something crucial as well as being a victim of the impulse purchase?1 Your simple shopping list – the plan – saves you both time and money.
A plan helps you make a commitment to yourself, pointing you towards the future. You also know when you have scored a personal development goal.
If your mind is like mine then you will pay more attention to today’s contingencies. What I should be doing for tomorrow somehow slips into the oblivion of the now, only to surface later, accompanied by its good friend regret, to beat me up.
You can virtually guarantee your success in any endeavour if you know who you are, what you want, where you are going, how you will get there, and what you will do once you arrive. Planning before you act helps you to do things better, faster and cheaper! Planning offers a host of other tasty benefits as well.
Making a plan
If your goals are in a SMARTI format you have almost developed your plan. However, goals will not be achieved unless there is action and actions need a plan.
Here are the major steps:
- Read your vision, your mission statements and your goal category (e.g. health and wellbeing).
- Take the ‘S’ from your SMARTI goal and make it the heading for your plan sheet.
- Through research make a list of the things you will need to accomplish the goal.
- The ‘T’ from your SMARTI goal will give you the end date by which you will achieve your goal. However, set a date for the accomplishment of all the sub-goals (e.g. acquiring each resource you will need). If you need training then you need to establish by when, otherwise the project will stall.
- List all the actions that you will have to take.
- Review what help, advice or assistance you might need and secure it.
- Think through what difficulties might arise and develop contingency plans.
- Once a month, or more if necessary, re-evaluate where you are and reschedule if required.
- Reward yourself and those involved.
- Goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound and interesting in order for you to use them effectively.
- Combine ‘doer’ goal behaviour with the formula:
Energy + Focus = Commitment, for success. - Remember to reward yourself for small successes, as well as the bigger ones, along the way.
- Set goal priorities and long- and short-term goals to give you an unshakable goal structure.
- Create a plan of action.
1 According to the American Bureau of Statistics, in some retail categories as much as 60% of sales can be attributed to impulse purchasing.