PURPOSE PSYCHOLOGY

Why You're Not Achieving Your SMART Goals YET

I can truly confess that there have been goals I have set that I have not met or missed the target completely. Not only was there disappointment about the unfavorable outcomes and results, but a disappointment within myself:


“You set this goal yourself. Why aren’t you doing what you know it takes to reach it?”


And when I thought about it, no epiphany or revelation came to answer this rhetoric. And so I continued to proverbially self-flagellate myself emotionally and mentally.


Because my past lives in leadership development and performance consulting roles contain many of these stories, I can now greatly empathize with elite athletes and corporate executive clients who share similar experiences of having grand plans that looked and sounded wonderful on paper but were never achieved.


In hindsight, there were always a couple of key ingredients missing.


The S.M.A.R.T Goal-setting Framework

There is no doubt goal-setting is a highly valuable, essential process that helps teams and individuals develop clarity, focus and action plans toward things they want and need. When developing short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, most organizations introduce the process of goal-setting using researcher Dr Edward Locke’s S.M.A.R.T. framework:


Specific - The more clarity in what the desired end-point of the goal looks like, the greater the chance of achieving it. (We look to set performance goals, too. Not outcome goals.)


Measurable – There need to be tangible ways to monitor progress to determine whether or not that progress is in the right direction.


Adjustable – Flexibility. Basically, we are ensuring there are contingency options….more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. Sometimes getting from point A to point B is not a linear journey as the crow flies, but the pathway of a roller-coaster.


Realistic – Is this a feasible goal? Sometimes the ‘R’ is chosen to represent relevance. Is this goal in accordance with the overall mission and vision?


Time Frame – Having a deadline can be a motivating factor to fuel focused action-taking behavior. Without a time limit on it, productivity is not harnessed and the goal can stretch beyond a time period where it becomes redundant.


(Note that the focus here is on setting the goal, not necessarily developing a full-blown action plan. That comes later.)


Many mentors’ guidance to set goals involves evaluating the gap between where we are and where we want to be in different areas of our lives. Sometimes called theWheel of Life, we methodically evaluate each area - career, finances, personal development, spirituality, intimate relationships, leisure, education, social relationships (friends) – and get a sense of a) how satisfied we are in one area, and b) where do we want to be in this area.


This is a good place to start.


The degree of disparity that becomes highlighted on our chart gives us clues about which area we might need to turn our attention to first. And off we go applying the SMART framework to develop and set short, medium, and long-term goals. We brainstorm wildly, as most coaches recommend us, to stretch our minds far and wide to envisage all the things we want to become, do and have. We put pen to paper and list hundreds of them, however….without even coming close to finishing this explosive list, we can almost guarantee there will be a substantial number of those you will not even consider starting.


There are still a couple of key ingredients missing…..


The Two Essential Goal-setting Criteria that are Commonly Missed

Research studies across the world have proven on many occasions within elite sport, work and social situations that positive results are more likely to be achieved when the following are in place:

  • time and energy is regularly dedicated to determining and constantly reviewing the goals
  • goals are chosen and identified by those who are responsible for meeting them
  • support resources and contingency plans are put in place
  • support resources are actually ‘qualified’ to provide the assistance that is required to meet goals
  • clear and positive language is used to define your goals and describe goals that are specific to the key person, not according to someone else
  • goals have life breathed into them; their description is as full as possible and incorporates the senses as much as possible (smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight)
  • there is a high level of belief in the possibility that the goals can be achieved
  • there is a strong degree of positive emotional connection (excitement) to the goals that are set

Let’s look at the last two points…..


  1. There is a high level of belief in the possibility of those goals being achieved;
  2. There is a strong degree of positive emotional connection or excitement.


When we look at the list of hundreds of goals we might have on our list, this is not to say we scrap those where we have a low amount of belief and throw it in the dumpster. Nor do we toss out those goals which don’t give us strong warm fuzzies when we think about them.

For each of the goals that we might have listed, we ask ourselves questions about the presence and intensity of the following two key emotional factors:

  1. What is my level of belief in the possibility, right now, in being able to achieve this goal?
  2. How excited and passionate am I about achieving this goal, right now?


For each goal, apply two separate ratings out of ten, against each question: one (1) being the least and ten (10) being the most.


Now multiply the two ratings to get your score out of 100.


For each goal now, what did you get for each score?


Here’s the kicker – if you choose to start taking action on a goal which has a rating score below 75-80/100, you’re in for a hard start. Motivation is likely to be lower and you will likely need to dedicate more effort, attention and energy to changing the mindset that is not in the state you need it to be to get started and hit the ground running.


With this in mind, it makes sense to look at the goals you have scored above 80. Your confidence and belief in the possibility of executing the goal as well as your excitement around doing so, means you more likely to achieve this particular target. Your confidence reflects you probably have more resources within you and available to you, to achieve those goals.


As you then hit these goals, your self-esteem and belief in your capability grows and expands. Those goals that we considered throwing into the dumpster, actually start to feel in closer reach as you have now grown toward them through achieving other goals first. Your belief and excitement or desire for the next goals, has increased. It’s now time to tackle those.


There is an overarching impact upon your ability to achieve your goals when you check for the presence of these two emotional aspects and use this rating system to prioritize them.


Let’s consider an example.


If you recall from our article The Tool All Top Performers Use to be the Best: Visualization our love of the gun-metal grey Aston Martin Vanquish, aiming to acquire one of these in the first stretch can actually be damaging to our self-belief. Instead, the next step might be simply getting repairs done on our current car and then experiencing the emotional satisfaction of accumulating funds to then upgrade that model.


Whether it be applied to sport, personal goals, business, career, money, achieving a deeper level of spiritual connectedness or relationships, goal-setting this way is a skill that will escalate achievement in all areas of your life and make the journey of getting there easier and much more enjoyable.


Above all, remember…..Rome wasn’t built in a day.