Create Purposeful Intentions by Shedding SMART Goals

Join our “Shredding SMART Goals” Coffee Chat

As we kick off the new year, it’s common for many of us to think about setting new goals, both in our personal and professional lives.

However, there’s a catch. Typically, when we make New Year’s resolutions, only about 10% of us manage to stick with them for more than a few months. This happens quite often, and I think it’s because we approach goal-setting by focusing on goal-setting through a negative filter. Let’s shift our perspective and tackle this year’s goals with a fresh, more effective, more positive mindset.

“I must get better at…”

• Not procrastinating.
• Losing weight.
• Getting organized.
• Communicating better.
• Creating courses that don’t fail.

What these statements all have in common is the negative filter we see them through. If they aren’t achieved, it’s a failure.

Wouldn’t it be better to put a more positive spin on goals? Perhaps treating them as “positive and purposeful intentions“?

We can do this in several ways:

• Write them as positive statements. Instead of, “I must lose weight,” why not “Spend 5 minutes a day stretching.” This is doable. We’re taking a large, negatively filtered goal and chucking it down to more positive action.
• Instead of “get organized,” try “keep the area around my keyboard tidy.” Again, doable. We tend to beat ourselves up when we fail to do something. However, the goal becomes more digestible when looking through a positive filter and starting small.

It’s the difference between setting ourselves up for failure and creating positive and purposeful intentions.

Consider SMART goals, a format that businesses commonly accept as best practice. But SMART goals don’t bring about results. In a large-scale study published in December of 2020, participants who were taught how to use SMART goals reported less success with their New Year’s Resolutions than a comparison group.

But it’s really not that surprising – let’s take SMART goals and analyze just two criteria: “Achievable and Realistic.” Those two pieces are redundant, which is why many people have changed “Realistic” to “Relatable or Relevant.” But it still doesn’t make sense – 1) Because if something is to be achievable, it stands to reason that the goal should be realistic/relatable/relevant. And 2) It fails because “Achievable and Realistic” are not enablers of strong action and, dare I say, actually encourage the status quo.

So, let’s gather and rethink how we are going to tackle the year. Together, let’s build something actionable and positive that stands a chance of success.

Can’t be there live? We’ve got your back! 

Simply by registering to attend the coffee chat, you will receive the following:

✅ Follow-up email with resources and extra goodies

✅ Copy of the video recording

✅ Copy of the chatbox transcription

✅ Copy of the full session transcript