There’s all kinds of “best practices” these days that are now stuff of productivity legend – and commonly accepted as the way to ensure success and results. Some of these best practices include the 20/80 rule, based on the Pareto principle which in sum says that 80% of results come from 20% of the actions taken. While this is certainly a smart way to contextualize and reevaluate ones tasks and activities, the Pareto principle doesn’t go as far when your goals are poorly defined. This is the reason why S.M.A.R.T. (SMART) goals make a difference for those who are self proclaimed “big picture” types. With SMART goals, you have the context of 5 elements to a goal that usually go overlooked by those who feel they’re too busy to look at the details of what it’s going to take to make their plans and objectives a reality.
SMART Goals Defined
So, what are SMART goals and why are they so crucial? For starters, SMART is an acronym for Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-Based. And the significance of each of the 5 elements are clearly defined in the Atlassian.com article here. Ultimately, if your goals aren’t specific enough, identified as achievable aka “realisitic”, relevant i.e. understood in the context of how it applies to you or the project and allotted a time-based window for fulfillment – you’re screwed.
But in this week’s Grind Scheme podcast, we talk about what to do when you have SMART goals and you’re still in danger of not reaching them and what to consider to correct course.
3 Reasons Why S.M.A.R.T Goals Don’t Work
For those who want the surface quick-fix answers – here’s the 3 reasons why smart goals don’t work:
- Lack of Goal Ownership
- Lack of Emotional Buy-In or Commitment for Reaching the Goals
- Lack of Vision or Visualization of the Objectives and Outcomes
But in this week’s podcast, I dig a little deeper for those who want to peek behind the curtain of productivity mythology and legend to gain deeper insights into what might ruin their next project before it starts and what do to fix it.
Start listening to the podcast is provided below.
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