Goal Setting (#86)
As we turned the calendar to the new year, many people do goal setting by creating their New Year’s resolution. Yet, according to research, only 8 percent of all people ever feel that they are successful in achieving it. And 42 percent give up on their resolution before February 1st. In previous years, I saw this at the gym – it would be packed in January but back to the usual patrons in February. People fail at achieving their goals because they lack the tools to do proper goal setting. Improving your goal setting techniques can help you accomplish not just your New Year’s resolution, but more at work, for your family, and for yourself in 2021.
A goal is an idea of what things look like in the future or a desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. There are four main steps to doing better goal setting -- defining your goal, breaking your goal down into steps, putting time on the calendar to achieve your goal, and, finally, thinking through the most likely obstacle to achieving your goal. Using these tools will make it more likely that you accomplish your goal, whatever it is.
SMART
There are dozens of techniques to do goal setting. One of the best way to define a goal is to use the SMART mnemonic device. Defining a SMART goal means that the goal is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Some questions to ask yourself as you develop a SMART goal:
Specific -- What will be accomplished? What actions will you take?
Measurable -- What data will measure the goal? (How much? How well?)
Achievable -- Is the goal doable? Do you have the necessary skills and resources?
Relevant -- How does the goal align with broader goals? Does it align with my purpose? Why is the result important?
Time-Bound -- What is the time frame for accomplishing the goal?
Once you have created a SMART goal, it is worth evaluating if it is a stretch goal, or a goal that sets a target beyond expectations. Grit (more on this later) is typically developed in the pursuit of a stretch goal, as you push your boundaries.
Steps
Once you have a SMART goal, break your goal down into steps. One way to do this is to work backward from the goal. Take the goal and think through the last step you will need to do before you achieve it, then the previous, and then the previous. Once you get to your start point, then you are almost ready to put the plan into action.
Time
The biggest obstacle to achieving any goal is finding the time to do the steps needed to achieve it. Once you have your plan of action done, pull out your calendar and block time to accomplish each of the steps. You may need to figure out what you are not going to do in order to have the time to accomplish the new goal. Make sure you schedule time to evaluate your progress towards the goal and assess if the goal is still the proper objective.
One of your biggest decisions as a leader is where and how you spend your time. Your personal operating rhythm (see Post #44 for more) is the cadence of meetings, engagements with clients, engagements with your boss, and engagements with the team that help drive you to meet your objectives. As part of this goal setting, it may be worthwhile to review your personal calendar for the past month (you may need to do this forward for a month if you aren’t tracking your time accurately). Divide the different events on your calendar into three categories: the productive uses of your time (i.e. the ones that are helping you achieve the goal), the time wasters (those that don’t), and what tasks could have been done by others (delegate). Eliminate the time wasters from your calendar for the next month, delegate those tasks which can be done by others, and focus on maximizing the productive use of your time.
Making time on your calendar to accomplish your goals, as well as optimizing your personal battle rhythm, are critical steps in accomplishing any goal.
Challenges
Finally, challenges are going to occur with trying to achieve any goal. It is important to think through what is going to be the most likely obstacle that you will encounter. Then, develop two ways to overcome the most likely obstacle to the goal.
There are two other important ideas to consider with goal setting. The simple act of writing the goal down can help energize your journey to achieve it. Also, if you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by having too many goals and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.
I find that grit is best defined as “the will to persevere to achieve long term goals.” A person’s grit is built upon a goal, their perseverance, their resilience, their courage to deal with the fear of failure, and their drive. Going forward into 2021 my SMART goal is “to do a deep dive into grit by publishing at least ten longer (1,000 word) blog posts on different aspects of grit prior to March 31, 2021 in order to help people and organizations become grittier.” This is the first of a dozen blog posts on grit.
Go on the offensive in 2021 and enhance your goal setting. Define your goals using the SMART mnemonic device (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound); break your goal down into steps, put time on the calendar to achieve your goals, and think through the most likely obstacle that will prevent you from achieving it. Use it for your New Years’ resolutions and any other goal you set out to achieve in 2021.