SMART has been around for a while, it stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-based
They are the steps required to help you set goals that can actually be reached.
For the short term goals, they are great. They align things nicely and make it possible to plan to achieve. For the short term tactical goals they work because they provide focus and give you momentum. Short term goals are also usually smaller; chances of circumstances or events derailing you are less.
Long term though, they are dumb, because they restrict you by focusing on ACHIEVABLE and REALISTIC. What you end up doing is the same old stuff, over and over. When you look at where you are NOW it is possibly vastly different from where you were 10 years ago. If you have not reached a passionate goal – if you are not doing something you truly love, that gets you super enthusiastic, but you HAVE had that goal in the past - then something is missing.
The ‘writing on our walls’ limits our thinking and our potential. If you said “I want to travel to Europe next year and do some business over there”, but your finances said “even with maximum savings Europe is three years away” then you are stuck. With SMART, the Achievable and Realistic in this setting says you have to wait.
If you set the goal despite the SMART rules, and then ask “Ok, what do we need to do to make the money to get there within one year? “Where do we get the money from? How can we do it?” your thinking and outlook takes you down a totally different track.
High achievers are GOAL SETTERS. This is a 100 per cent proven fact. There have been more books written … the proof goes without saying.
Set goals that will make you stretch and reach out to be the best you can be. Go for the Ultimate Goals. Ones that ring so strongly when you think of them that you tend to float. Those are the ones usually worth going for.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
We recent held a workshop Breakthrough in Peak Performance which DIRECTLY AND DIFFERENTLY handled personal barriers to goal setting and achievement. The next one is scheduled for March 4th.
To read some success stories and see the workshop schedule, visit our Workshops/Seminars page on our website:
http://www.conclusive.com.au/index.pl?page=153 | 
