GOALS THAT WORK

People tend to have one of two responses to the word “goals.” They get pumped or they roll their eyes; here we go again. So if you fall into the latter category, stick with me for a few minutes because there is some new information worth sharing about creating goals that work. If you’re in the first category, you’ll love this.

The standard wisdom for setting a goal is the SMART goal model. It’s an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. In short, you need to know exactly what you want, be able to track your progress, pursue something you can achieve and is within the realm of reason, and there’s a date in it somewhere.

The SMART goals approach is a useful tool, but is woefully inadequate when you want to achieve big things. The challenge in all this is that we’ve forgotten what a goal actually is.

The world goal comes from two Old English words: gol, meaning boundary and gal, meaning barrier. In quite a literal sense a goal is a boundary to break through or a barrier to be overcome. Yet when we look at our goals they often don’t resemble a breakthrough. They usually just look like “to dos.”

Mark Murphy, in his book, “HARD Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be,” has a different perspective about setting real goals. It’s worth looking at.
Murphy says that SMART goals are typically not worth the paper they’re written on. SMART is a handy model for gathering information and having consistency in goal- setting, but that big goals invariably violate the Achievable and Realistic elements. Most goals have nothing in them that compels us and they are rarely inspiring. Yet it shouldn’t be motivation and discipline that drive a goal. The goal should be driving the motivation and the discipline. The question is, how do we do that?

Approaching goals from a different angle (and with the data to back it up), Murphy offers his model of HARD goals. The HARD acronym addresses four areas: Heartfelt, Animated, Required, and Difficult. A quick look at each of those might shift how you look at goals.
Heartfelt isn’t a word we tend to use in business very much, but when people have a deep emotional attachment to their goals they can become annoyingly persistent. That persistency propels people forward and simply won’t let them set aside their goal or the activities required to achieve it.

Animated is the amped-up version of specific. It’s one thing to know the specific result you want, but it’s an entirely different experience to actually put yourself into the future and experience the moment of success. What just happened? Who’s there? What are you saying to each other? It’s almost like role-playing it in your mind so that you’ve already experienced the success.

The third word is Required. Your goal must be a must. If it’s optional you and everyone else will treat it that way. Real goals that help you overcome a barrier or break through a boundary must be necessary if they’re to be meaningful.

And finally, the “D” is for Difficult. Easy goals don’t move us. They don’t inspire us. They don’t call on our best, and they require no growth. It’s like playing hockey with no opposing team. It’s fun for a very short time and then it’s boring. Set goals that are difficult. Set goals that you don’t know how to achieve – and then go after them.

We’re often told to work smarter, not harder. But, it might be time to put more HARD work into our goals.

Glenn Ayrton is registered as an Investment Advisor with Sora Group Wealth Advisors Inc. (SGWA), a member of the Canadian Investment Protection Fund. This information is general in nature and is intended for educational purposes only. This should not be considered personal investment advice or solicitation to buy or sell securities. For specific situations you consult a financial professional. The views express are those of the author and not necessarily those of SGWA.