Defining a goal simply and effectively is a skill that will help you both in your personal and professional development. The reasons for this are easy to understand:
In today’s article, I describe two simple techniques to help you set goals. I also propose an exercise for you to put these concepts into practice, your own “Individual Workshop to set personal or professional goals”!
The HARD methodology was proposed by Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, in the book “Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give It Their All, and They’ll Give You Even More.” It is recommended when you want to set goals that inspire you or others to achieve something truly special and great. That is, something that goes beyond day-to-day, incremental and secure gain.
According to Murphy, the goal is to get you out of the comfort zone, to require you to learn new concepts, and that you feel special about achieving that goal. According to this methodology, a goal is HARD when it is:
Heartfelt – my goal will enrich the lives of others, beyond my own, be they the community, customers, suppliers, the neighbor, etc.;
Animated – I can visualize how cool and special I’ll feel when I reach my goal;
Required – my goal is absolutely necessary to achieve the goals of my organization or my own life goals (depends on if you are setting goals for your personal life or career);
Difficult – if I want to reach my goal, I´ll have to leave my comfort zone and learn new skills.
SMART Goal (Photo: pepifoto / iStock)
The second methodology to define goals was described in the magazine Management Review, published in November, 1981. Very used since then in several companies, the technique proposes to end some common mistakes when setting goals: irrelevance and lack of clarity. It is, in fact, a very simple way to set a goal. On the other hand, it´s not very audacious, which generated criticism afterwards.
Anyway, for simple and more ordinary situations, where a more radical paradigm shift is not needed, it’s still a very useful way. A goal is SMART when it is:
Specific – the more detailed the goal is, the better! Targeting “I want to start exercising” is good. However, it is much better if I have it detailed and have more clarity of what I´d like to achieve. For instance: “I want to run again in order to be able to complete a half marathon before Christmas.”
Measurable – The important thing is to have a clear way to measure your performance, that is, how you are heading towards your goal. If you leave the goal too vague (for example, “I want to improve my relationships at work”), it will be difficult to understand whether it is near or far from the goal. Targeting “I want to eliminate situations where I lose my temper and explode with my subordinates in public” is easier to see and measure. In this case, just count how many times you went through similar situations in a certain period. To reach the goal in a month, for example, you would need to enter “0” in 30 days.
Achievable – the important thing is that the goal is not an impossible dream to achieve. If it is, it will only serve to discourage you. Imagine, for example, that you are 30kg over your ideal weight and that your goal is to lose 30kg in a month only. Quite hard right? Impossible I would say … Now, if it is in a year, it starts to become more doable and motivating.
Realistic – one’s own reality must be taken into account and perceive what is possible to be done. If you work 12 hours a day, in a rat race, and travel two weeks per month, it won´t be close to reality that you´ll pick up your children in school every day. But picking up them once a week, in the weeks you’re not traveling, sounds more realistic, does it not?
Time bound, set a deadline – That’s right, a deadline like “before Christmas” or “until next Friday”. Creating a deadline creates a sense of urgency and this helps to prioritize efforts. I had a boss who said that when you want to get people working together to do a certain action, set a deadline. In fact, putting deadlines always helped me!
Notebook and pen (Photo: Freddy Castro / Unsplash)
Time to put it into practice! My suggestion is for you to find a quiet place where you can focus and not be interrupted. Next, pick up pencils, pen, paper, notebook or a notepad (physical or digital) and get to work:
1. Define an area of your life for which you want to set goals. Personal development, career, relationship, family, your finances? Or would it be something related to your work, your team, a special project?
2. Start jotting down your goals. Spend five to ten minutes jotting down everything you’d like to achieve in that area. Where would you like to get? What would you like to create or change? In how much time would you like to accomplish this?
3. Define the vision of success. Once you have done this first draft, imagine yourself after some time and visualize what it is like to have achieved each of these goals. How do you feel after each achievement? What do you see conquered?
4. Set whether the goal is HARD or SMART. Now, for each goal, think about whether it’s actually hard to achieve; that will get you out of the comfort zone and that will require you to develop new skills. Assess whether it is something less complicated, simpler, but also with challenges. If it is the first, set a HARD goal for it; if it is the second, a SMART goal will suffice.
5. Perfect your draft. For each goal outlined, apply the following test and see if it is well defined according to the HARD or SMART methodology. To pass the test, the goal must be able to surpass all the questions below. If your draft has failed in any of these responses, go over the goal until it passes through all of them:
If the goal is HARD:
H – Will it benefit other people? Who?
A – How will you feel when you reach the goal? Cheered up? Excited?
R – Is it crucial to your life goals or at work?
D – Is it going to be difficult to do it? Will you have to leave the comfort zone? What will you need to learn to achieve it?
If the goal is SMART:
S – Is it specific or generic? Is it well detailed? If someone else reads it, will they clearly understand what you want to achieve?
M – What is the metric used to know if you have reached the goal? What will you use to measure?
A – Is this a possible goal to achieve or is it an almost impossible dream?
R – Is it realistic to imagine that you will have the time, skills, and willingness to reach that goal in your day-to-day life?
T – What´s the timespan, or deadline, to reach it?
Repeat the process a few times, and in a short time you will have a well-defined set of goals to inspire and motivate you. That being said, I suggest you share your goals with people close to you and ask for their opinion. This feedback will help you understand whether your goals are well-defined or whether you can refine further.
When everything´s ready and set, my final suggestion is to print your goals and put them somewhere you can see them often. Whenever you read them, feel how painful it would be not to reach each of them, and at the same time, how happy and cool it would be if you conquered them.
I am here cheering for you and I wish you all the dedication, competence and luck in the world to reach your goals. Go for it!
Cover photo credit – Setting a goal (Photo: shapecharge / iStock)
