Coach Dale’s Renovation of S.M.A.R.T. Goals

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by Dale Young, WeAlign Executive Coach

Do you create New Year’s Resolutions? The idea of starting something new with a new year is appealing, and that’s why so many people do this.

Did you know that a majority of New Year’s Resolutions (NYR) fail before the end of January? And a majority of the ones that survived through January fail before the end of March.

Or do you do a “Word for the Year”? Which when you think about it, is just a very light-weight form of a resolution — it’s a resolution to “focus” on that word, but with no structure, no milestones, and no accountability. That’s a way to make sure your resolution doesn’t fail — define it so loosely that by definition it’s not going to fail.

People debate if Einstein actually said this or not, I am not sure but do know it’s a powerful sentence:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Maybe there’s a better way. How about doing something different?

Think about how you’ve created NYR in the past — how much time, effort, and energy did you put into the creation?

Here’s my observation: Most NYR fail because they are not tied emotionally to a big enough WHY.

Another word for resolution is goal. Many of you have heard of the phrase “create SMART goals”. I love SMART goals. However, I have created my own version of them, which are the words:

  • Simple
  • Mini
  • Aspiring
  • Rewarding
  • Timely

You can see how I laid them out in the attached graphic. The “A” – Aspiring is at the “top of the mountain” visually because I believe that a goal is much more achievable when it is connected to something bigger and more important in your life.

Here are links to further posts where I explain what each of these words mean in relation to S.M.A.R.T. goals and give some practical examples of how you might see them show up in your life:

Dale Young is a CliftonStrengths, Leadership, and Teamwork coach who loves to help people discover and live their you-unique-ness. He can be reached at dale@coachdale.com.

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