On Setting Goals
I’ve had “goals” before. But I’ve almost never had a plan. It’s a fact. I’ve never been much of a planner.
As a child, not planning was never a problem. To see it like bowling, if I ever needed them, my Mom was my “bumpers” and somehow or another I always seemed to roll strikes or spares.
With no plans to speak of, I’d say I more than got by. I did pretty well, excelled even.
The older I’ve grown, the more I realize the need for the disciple of a “plan” in pursuit of a goal.
I write this post today, not as some feigned guru of goal-setting. No no. It’s more of a way to keep myself accountable than anything. Below is most everything I’ve come to believe about goals, goal setting, and goal sharing.
NOTE: There will be a lot more post on goals, plus deeper dives into each concept and tools I use to keep on track in future posts
Defining a Good-Looking Goal:
A good-looking goal does many things, it acts as an inspiration and a mile marker. It also gives you control and a clear sense of what’s next.
Goals should be SMART
One of the most known and agreed upon baselines for a good-looking goal is S.M.A.R.T.¹
framework. Smart goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. While I think SMART goal setting is a good place to start, there’s more to a good looking goal than it fitting the SMART framework.
Goals Should Pull in Identity
I really enjoy a goal setting strategy called “identity-based goal setting². For example, a SMART goal might be to lose 5 pounds in the next 5 months. It checks all the SMART boxes. What it doesn’t do, however, is tell you what to do next. In this instance, I’d rather work on “Identity Based Goals” that put the emphasis more on “being the type of person who prioritizes their nutrition and fitness plans.” With 5 months of attention paid to nutrition and wellness, you might still lose 5 pounds but now you’ll have grown as a person. If I’m only looking to hit some weight-in number, I could do any number of unsustainable things to cut weight rapidly in the last month.
Goals Should Quant Based
Quant-based meaning numbers-based. Quant falls in line with the M, meaning measurable, in SMART Goals but quant takes it a bit further. As I see it, Quant Based Goals tell you to set an intention and reverse engineer the road there using measurable units of input³. In the fitness example used above, we might set a goal of 365 hours of spend training in a year. Knowing that someone who prioritized their fitness will workout three times a week for about 2 hours (3x2x52=312) will get us up to 312 hours. Then there is a remainder of 53 hours left…about an hour a week. You now know what to get done. Quant-based goal setting would involve building out a schedule to ensure that you know exactly where you are by logging your hours as you move over time toward the end of the year.
Goals Should Be Controllable
Another overlooked point in SMART goal setting is the locus of control. What I mean to say is, if I know anything, I know you can’t control outcomes you can only control effort. Therefore, the effort is what we should be measuring. We can control the number of times we work out, and how hard we work out, we really can’t control for bodyweight as it’s a second-order effect of the work we do in the gym. I could instantly think of a half dozen reasons why you might not be losing weight despite working like a dog. Similarly, if you’re in sales, all you can ever do is put in the time, and go in prepared. You have no control over anyone else in the room or on the phone. You can control for the amount of sales calls and sales visits, you cannot control for sales.
What Do Good Looking Team Goals Look Like?
They should be BHAGs
In Good To Great, Jim Collins, famously found that the greatest organizations of all time have all had “BHAGs,” which means Big Hairy Audacious Goals⁴. These audacious goals straddle the line between vision statements and goals. They also challenge SMART’s A, which is achievable. Instead, BHAGs say that goals should be so lofty that only people truly on board — or crazy — could think it’s achievable. A BHAG was JFK’s “a man on the moon by the end of the decade.” No doubt that some must have thought “that’s impossible; that’s crazy.” But it was just so audacious that it worked.
Set Goals Like a Great Corner Coach
One of the best analogies I now have for team goal setting involves the concept of being a boxing coach between rounds. I can’t remember exactly where I heard it first, but there are two types of corner coaches⁵. Ones that add to the noise of the night, use energy, that talk a ton between rounds. The others, the best ones, speak calmly and repeat no more than three short phrases. “Keep moving your feet.” “Work his body.” That’s it. The best coaches know that the fewer goals there are, the easier they are to remember and the more likely they’ll be executed on.
Set Laser Focused Goals
Noah Kagan, employee #30 at Facebook, always about how Zuckerberg had on goal increase the user base. If someone had an idea, it was held against a binary question, “will it grow the user base?” It’s said, that coffee room conversations about product iterations would have employees asking, “but does it grow the user base?” When your goal is singular, your team can attach themselves to it.
Great corner coaches and CEOs know the value of setting audacious but narrowly focused goals.
How to Follow Through When Setting Big Goals
I “asked the audience” this week… what do you do when setting big goals… I was impressed by the answers. And the ones that stick out are, Community Based.
It’s my personal belief that we are as (insert any descriptor… other than tall) as the people we spend the most time with.
When it comes to setting and achieving a goal, the tool you use —the frameworks— they’re great, but I believe it’s the company you keep that gets you where you want to be.
Sharing your goals with the right groups of people, the kind of people who support you and are willing to work with you on your way is always a smart idea.
With that said, my goal for the next year is to produce content that inspires, empowers, and equips people to live their dreams today. I will (1) write a weekly email to my mailing list, (2) produce at least one blog post, and (3) one video for my site per week. I will also reach out to (4) 10 organizations per week to inquire about guest posts and speaking engagements.
My second-order goal is (5) to see my mailing list grow on this website 5,000 people by January, 1st 2020. To give you context, we’re currently under 500 subscribers, that means we have about 95% of the road before us. It’s audacious but if I do the work, it’s possible.
Here’s to setting big goals. And thank’s for your support. I’m going to need it.
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1 The November 1981 issue of Management Review contained a paper by George T. Doran called There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. It discussed the importance of objectives and the difficulty of setting them.
2 I originally heard of “Identity Based Goals” from James Clear’s post about habit change and New Years resolutions.
3 Noah Kagan talks at length about “Quant Based Marketing” on his site, OkDork.com
4 BHAG is now common speak, since the overwhelming success and the business world’s adoption of Good to Great by Jim Collins.
5 I believe it was on a HBO Series *24/7 which highlighted the pre-fight preparation of Freddie Roach.