How to Achieve a Goal that Doesn’t Suck
As someone who works on leadership development and accountability, clients do not pay me to tell them what they want to hear; they pay me to convey what no one else will. It is my job to call out BS and help align what people say they want with what they do. Let’s find out how your goal-setting for the year is going. These principles apply to both your personal leadership and professional growth goals.
Is it Written? Look at your biggest goal for the year that you have written down. If you say you have a goal, but you cannot show it, it is not a goal; it is an idea or a wish. I am talking about a goal. If it is still only in your head as a notion, grab something to write with and jot down your great goal now.
Is it Viewable? Few people write their goals down and look at them every day. You want to be one of those few. Your great goal may still stink when you do, but you will now have something concrete to work with, refine, and improve.
Is it Your Own? Think hard on this. Is this a goal that you came up with on your own, or was it suggested, perhaps demanded, by a boss, a spouse, a parent, children, grandparents, or somebody who is no longer with you? Are you still carrying their influence, trying to please them for some reason? If you listen to them, you are working on something other than your goal — not a great strategy. You must create a goal that is yours.
Is it Specific? Is your goal vague? “I want to lose weight, make more money, fall in love, go to college, buy a car, buy a house, start a new business,” blah, blah, blah. You could probably throw a rock and hit ten other people with similar goals. Ambition is great, but not in this diluted form. You do not want to lose weight; you want to fit into a specific pair of jeans. You do not want just any car; you have one in mind. You don’t want any house; you want to live in a specific neighborhood. You have intrinsic criteria, so write them into your goals. Vague goals get vague results.
Does it Excite You? When you read your goal, do you want to drop what you are doing and work on it? If it does not create that level of excitement or motivation, why are you bothering with it? Because you “should” or you have to? That sounds like an obligation, not a goal, and frankly, we both know that sucks.
Can You Measure Success? Every great goal is measurable as long as you have the proper instrument in place to measure it correctly. While everything is measurable, that does not mean you should measure everything. Some things are binary; it is yes or no. Some things are subjective; your rating 0–10, or red-yellow-green, and you can measure those units over time and see trends. I am big into taking two measurements; Your process measure, what you are doing in the midst of things, and your results measure; did you hit the target you wanted to hit?
Is it Attainable? People with a no-limits mentality pooh-pooh the idea of realistic and attainable goals. “What is realistic and what is attainable,” they ask. “I don’t want to rule anything out.” Not to be a killjoy, but many people write their goals like letters to Santa. They want to be a millionaire instantly. They want to be talented in something for which they’ve spent no time studying or practicing. They want something that is beyond their sphere of influence or control. That thinking distracts you from your objective. A great goal grabs inspiration from your unique dreams and pulls down the attainable parts that you can work on now.
Is it Relevant? Is your goal relevant to anything else you are doing? Sometimes people create wild goals that have nothing to do with their values, personal mission, or anything else in their life. Being open to new things is great, but irrelevance is another costly distraction. How effective do you imagine a goal for irrelevant things will be?
Do You Have a Deadline? People get confused between wishes and goals. A goal has a realistic deadline. Sometimes you’ll find you need an extended timeframe or a smaller goal. I am not a fan of small goals, but creating small tasks that support your bigger goal is an excellent way to build consistent action to get you where you need to go. A goal without a deadline does not usually get accomplished. You create inherent motivation and momentum when you set a deadline. Even if you cannot meet it and you negotiate a new one, there is still a sense of ownership around your goal. People who do not do that do not have ownership of the goal, and they often do not finish what they say they want to accomplish.
Do You Have One Great Goal? I believe you should have tons of goals in your life, and when you run out of goals, you run out of life. However, I do not believe you need to be working on all those goals simultaneously. You can’t. Have a Great Goal, and then maybe two others. A long-term goal that you work on a little bit every day and a short-term goal; something fun or distracting but still worthwhile. Your brain stays fresh and engaged, moving from three different but complementary objectives. Burdened with a dozen goals will make you scattered and distracted. The perfectionist cannot get to them all; therefore, they will never be good enough. The generalist will touch on them all but will not have spent enough time making a tangible difference. Both feel they have not accomplished anything by the end of the year. They tinkered with things, as opposed to achieving something.
Does it Stretch You? If your goal is not forcing you to modify or change your behavior, you will probably not achieve it. If you could do it without changing something, you would have already accomplished it, and all this would be moot. You want a goal that will stretch your capabilities, excite you and make you use parts of your brain or body that you’ve not been using. When you determine a great goal, leverage your comfort zone in the best way possible. It is where your strengths lay, where you find your expertise, where everything you know and feel confident about resides. Push at your comfort zone and expand it a little bit instead of ignoring your strengths and whimpering in a corner because you tried something and failed. Your plan must stretch you, not break you.
How Will You Celebrate? A strong goal has a celebration built-in. When you are working on something day after day and moving it forward little by little, you feel proud of the progress. Eventually, you get it done, but nobody says anything, and that can suck some of the joy away. You can repeat that process several times and pretend it doesn’t matter, but ultimately your heart is no longer invested, so you’ll disengage. That is where demotivation and despondency form. People have worked hard, and it feels like nobody has noticed. Instead, build little milestones and points of celebration along the way. It is what makes the whole thing worthwhile. You do not have to organize a parade but maybe indulge in a box of chocolates, a dinner out, a day off, whatever feels like a reward. Make it small enough not to throw you off track but significant enough to feel excited and justified in the progress you are making.
Is It Worth the Effort? “But it is so much work.” People are busy, and planning and thinking about a goal is overwhelming. “I just want what I want” is a common refrain of the tired and frustrated. I understand that. It is work, and I believe you are worth it. However, you are the one who has to think and answer the question, “Is this worth the effort?” Are you worth putting in the effort to create a successful goal for your year, your week, or your day? If you are not setting goals, you are telling yourself you are not worth it, and that is not the kind of message you want to send your subconscious mind nor the people you interact with frequently. A solid goal increases your self-worth and your greater worth.
If you are happy with your great goal, good for you. I am excited about the success you are experiencing and would love to learn more. If you read something that makes you want to adjust a goal to make it stronger, do that now. If you do not, you probably won’t, and that really would suck.
===
Boston-bred and California-chilled Karl Bimshas is a leadership consultant, author, and podcast host who collaborates with underestimated professionals who want to become confident, competent leaders in their field without becoming a jerk. Improve the working relationships with your colleagues and direct reports to create high-performing teams with a series of leadership workbooks available at LeadershipWorkbooks.com
