Everyone knows that we should set goals, many go as far as writing them down and making them SMART Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant and Time Bound. All of these techniques are proven to help you get moving on reaching your goals and dreams. However, there still lies a problem ,a large number of people still fall short even after having followed the rules laid down by the time management gurus. But Why?
Learning to Win
I assert that there is a variety of reasons but the most likely problem is that many people are selecting the wrong goals. Before you apply the SMART technique to goal setting you may want to evaluate your goals. Ask your self what happens to me if I achieve this goal? who cares? How does achieving this goal effect the people I care about?
Procrastination happens for a reason sometimes good reason, it will keep you from wasting your time doing something that really is not important to you.
There is another problem with this process, its subtle but very powerful, setting bogus goals and getting in the habit of not reaching them is a form of lying. You don’t want to make it a habit of lying to yourself. Whats happens is that you learn not to trust your self. This can lead to low self esteem!
I deliberately do not make new years resolutions because I worry about setting goals on a whim I prefer to think my goals through to avoid self sabotage.
The point is that many set goals that look good on a vision board, on the refrigerator and sound good in meetings with peers, but they have no emotional meaning to the goal setter.Typically, the goals are nice to have but not all that important. For example what is more potentially moving having a goal for owning a 10,000 square foot house with all the trappings or positioning yourself to put your daughter through medical school or making sure your mother does not have to live in a nursing home to die surrounded by strangers?
Can you see how a goal that has massive benefits to your life or the lives of loved ones carries enough power to pull you through the inevitable roadblocks, hurdles , delays, goose chases etc. before reaching your goal? They will happen. Murphy s Law is alive and well.
It will be up to you to take the S in SMART and customize it to you as deeply as possible to make the process SMART.
The next major opportunity lies in the T in SMART Time Bound, the advice for breaking these goals down usually includes a to do list and priority setting most important ranked at the top and declining down until we get to the activities that we only do when we have extra time.
The flaw in this approach is in what most people forget to do and that is include a deadline for each task. Start times are the norm but activities tend to continue over into the next hour, day, week and then we forget why we even started our list. The trick is to set short daily solid goals with deadlines. You will learn how to estimate how much time is reasonable to complete a given task. You will get into the habit of moving faster to meet goals or decide to outsource. Outsourcing is a huge momentum builder when we admit we can’t do it all alone.
Parkinson’s Law is another law we need to understand it states that “Work expands with the time available for its completion.” So, learn to accurately estimate the investment of time. Time is not recoverable.
These simple but powerful tips give you leverage. Now you can make really make SMART goals, goals that get you fired up and excited about and make a difference!
To your success,
Valdez Lasartemay
P.S. For coaching opportunities contact me for available coaching opportunities and get going on hitting and achieving your goals. Email Valdez@SalesSocrates.com
