The Reason Why Your SMART Goals Still Don’t Work
By now, most of us have heard of the acronym SMART when describing how we should write our goals. This rubric is supposed to give us a tangible and specific end point with which to focus our efforts.
This rubric, we’re taught, should make you much more likely to fulfill your actual goals.
But if you’re like me, you have written these for years — during your professional yearly reviews, in your own personal life, or in your organizations — and they are still not coming into fruition.
You still didn’t lost the weight. You still didn’t get the promotion. You still didn’t make the money.
So what now? The reason why you’re still failing at your goals is because you’re doing SMART goals wrong. But once you switch the order of the acronym, you will double your effectiveness in achieving your goals.
What is a SMART Goal?
For those of you who may not know, SMART is an acronym that stands for:
Specific: Your goal should be as specific as possible.
Measurable: Your goal should quantifiable.
Achievable: Your goal should be realistic.
Results-based: Your goal should state the result you’d like.
Time bound: Your goal should finish within a certain time span.
The unfortunate part of acronyms is that they need to make memorable words (in this case, the word “smart”). Therefore, they’re not always presented in the most effective way. To make this more effective, we need to take this acronym and switch the order.
Start With Why (R)
In order to make an effective goal, you need to start with the result. This where is most people make their mistake. Instead of stating the result, they state the habit or the intermediary actions.
I want to run 3 times per week.
I want to answer emails more timely.
I want to write 3 posts per week.
These are all wrong.
Your goal should motivate you to action, and it won’t do that until you can envision what your future will look like once you achieve it. Your goal should dig into the ultimate reason why you are performing these actions.
One way to figure out your root desire is a method called the 5 Why's. Take your initial statement and ask yourself why. The rule states that you should ask it at least 5 times, but it’s okay if you don’t reach that many.
I want to run 3 times a week.
Why? Because I want to lose weight.
Why? Because I want to be sexy.
Why? Because I want to feel more confident in my skin.
When I realized that my ultimate why was to feel confident in my skin, I realized that running wasn’t getting me there. I really should spend more time on strength and toning or finding outfits that better fit my shape.
I often found myself frustrated in the past because I would have a goal of running 3x a week, but I realized it wasn’t getting me anywhere to where I wanted. So I wanted to quit. But I felt guilt about quitting my goals; that I didn’t have self-discipline. Tying your goals to habits instead of your actual “why” puts you in this conundrum. Don’t do this to yourself; know your why.
Make It Quantitative (M)
The next step is to make your goal measurable. Take your goal and add numbers to it so you can know exactly how close you are to the goal and when you have succeeded. Here, I asked myself, “what do I need to feel confident in my skin?”
Here you can do a bit of research. I thought to myself, when did I last feel confident? What did I look like? I thought about what size pair of tops and jeans I was wearing at the time and then went online to find the dimensions of what fit those. That became my measurable goal.
If you’re starting a business, you can look up benchmarks in your industry to see what you could shoot for. Or better yet, if you have your own historical metrics, you can challenge yourself to do better than before.
Figure Out the Time Span (T)
Parkinson’s law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” The time that you devote to complete a goal is the time that the goal will take.
Here you can do research again. How long does it typically take others to achieve this kind of goal? Can you beat that schedule or do you want to take it slow and steady?
The time span is another quantifiable value that you will use to gauge success of your progress. So spend time finding a good benchmark that will help you.
State What You’ll Give (S)
In the book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill gives six steps in his formula for becoming rich. The second step is, “Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire.” You don’t get something for nothing.
What will you sacrifice in pursuit of your goal? Think about all of your skills and resources and ask yourself what you’re willing to give up. This is the “S” in SMART. Be specific about what you’re sacrificing and ask yourself if this will get you towards your result within your desired time span.
I will give up 500 calories per day.
I will push myself with weight and cardio training.
I will walk at least 10,000 steps per day.
You can’t want something without giving something up.
Assess the Feasibility (A)
I’ve recently received a Peloton Tread, and I have definitely fallen into all the hype surrounding it. The trainers have encouraged me to keep pushing. One line I hear often from the trainers, and this is paraphrasing, is “If you have to you can lower the speed on your Tread. Notice I didn’t say if you want to; I said if you have to.”
Use that advice for your goals. If you look at them and truly say, “Chelsie, this goal makes no sense, and it’s not gonna to happen”, then pair them back.
But if your goal stretches you to where you get a bit uncomfortable, then that’s the sweet spot. Or as the trainers say, “find the pace that uncomfortably comfortable.”
A goal that is too hard will just discourage you. You want to find a nice, achievable challenge.
RMTSA Goals
I hope RMTSA goals replace the typical SMART goals. A good goal should cause you to look deep into yourself to understand your why and what you’re willing to give up to achieve it.