Setting SMART goals at the start of a new year can be a powerful way to achieve your goals, but it can also lead to feelings of failure if you find your goals no longer fit your current reality.
In this episode I talk about my problem with SMART Goals, and what to think about instead 😉
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Transcript
It's the beginning of the year as I'm recording this
Jonathan Stewart:episode, I can already see people talking about their goal setting and using the
Jonathan Stewart:delightfully overused, smart goal acronym.
Jonathan Stewart:And it is driving me nuts.
Jonathan Stewart:For those who haven't been privvy to the joys of smart goals.
Jonathan Stewart:It's an acronym that stands for specific measurable, attainable,
Jonathan Stewart:relevant, and time bound.
Jonathan Stewart:Now the idea behind smart goals is that they provide a framework for
Jonathan Stewart:creating goals that are designed to be clear, achievable, and
Jonathan Stewart:measurable, which is believed to increase the likelihood of success.
Jonathan Stewart:However, something that I've found over the years of trying to build
Jonathan Stewart:my business and all the things.
Jonathan Stewart:It feels incredibly inflexible.
Jonathan Stewart:It rarely allows for the kind of a flexibility there's often
Jonathan Stewart:needed in a business setting.
Jonathan Stewart:For example, if the environment in which a business operates on a day-to-day
Jonathan Stewart:basis changes, which is basically all of the time clients come in, clients
Jonathan Stewart:come out your family need more time.
Jonathan Stewart:There's so many different variables, the goals that were previously set.
Jonathan Stewart:Using that smart framework.
Jonathan Stewart:Don't really fit the reality of the environment that you're actually in
Jonathan Stewart:right now this means either one you've failed the goal, which if you have
Jonathan Stewart:any form of desire to achieve things perfectionism it can just cause you to
Jonathan Stewart:be really uncomfortable with the idea of setting goals and feel like you're
Jonathan Stewart:doing something wrong which annoys me.
Jonathan Stewart:For example during the year, that time for got so many of my clients have plans
Jonathan Stewart:that just stopped immediately due to Mr.
Jonathan Stewart:COVID.
Jonathan Stewart:Flexibility is the name of the game for so many business owners especially
Jonathan Stewart:if your brain is moving at a million miles an hour, most of the time,
Jonathan Stewart:like it is for me and many of the people that I love to work with.
Jonathan Stewart:one of the key focuses of smart goals is a narrow focus with specificity.
Jonathan Stewart:Now.
Jonathan Stewart:While it is important to have goals that give you a direction
Jonathan Stewart:to move in things change.
Jonathan Stewart:The assumption that's made with this framework and way of working is that
Jonathan Stewart:everyone knows what they want to achieve in six months, time or three months
Jonathan Stewart:or however long the goal is for, well, I don't know about you, but in my
Jonathan Stewart:business, I want that flexibility to ensure that my processes and systems
Jonathan Stewart:and the way that I work is adaptable.
Jonathan Stewart:We are bombarded by hundreds of things, telling us how to work.
Jonathan Stewart:And as it is the month of January, as I'm recording this, everyone's telling
Jonathan Stewart:us how we can be more productive and organized and be better because
Jonathan Stewart:what you're doing is not enough.
Jonathan Stewart:But sometimes when trying to implement.
Jonathan Stewart:Productivity advice.
Jonathan Stewart:We miss the thing, let's start at all.
Jonathan Stewart:Instead of starting from some generalized productivity advice.
Jonathan Stewart:Start from you.
Jonathan Stewart:Don't want to go it alone.
Jonathan Stewart:Reach out to me at simplicity.
Jonathan Stewart:Dash specialist.com.