The 4 Elements of Great Goals!
Let’s talk Goal Achievement
Why goals matter
Here’s the thing about achieving our goals – we need to know what they are.
Not just in vague terms like I want to get a promotion. No, they need to be specific, all-encompassing and inspiring. They need to capture our hearts and minds and keep us motivated through the tough times when we’re tired, ‘can’t be bothered’ or we don’t know the next best step.
Why? Because when we can’t emotionally connect to what we’re striving towards, we’re relying on will power and decision making. And it’s all too easy at the end of a long day, week or meeting to want to throw in the towel and lose patience with the work we need to do, to get the goals we aspire to.
Why SMART Goals Aren’t Enough
I’m a big fan of a SMART goal for the everyday things we want to achieve. In fact, they’re a great place to start for the big-ticket items as well. Making something specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound is an extremely solid foundation to get started from. I’m going to proceed like you know the basics of goal setting and SMART goals. If not, this is a great resource to get you started.
However, SMART goals are not enough. It’s got to be bigger than that. You need to be stretched by the goal, be able to know what it’s going to look and feel like as well. That’s where the true substance of goals lies.
When you can picture yourself in that future where you’ve achieved all you wanted, when you can feel the pride well up in your chest and the joy overtake your heart and you can hear, smell, and taste the victory, that’s when you can invest in achieving your goals wholeheartedly.
How to go beyond the basics
To move beyond SMART let’s talk about the 4 elements of great goals:
- Make it worthwhile
- A vision of the future
- Fully committed
- Self compassion
By combining these elements you take an aspiration and make it something you are motivated and committed to attaining.
1. Make it worthwhile
Michael Bungay Stanier has a great take on this, saying that for a goal to be worthwhile it must be thrilling, important, and daunting and the gold lies in not settling for two out of the three.
This means that when you think about the goal it:
- lights a fire under you, gets your blood pumping and fills you with excitement and joy, you want this, it’s not something you have to do.
- contributes to you and the world in a significant way, you will leave a legacy behind that others will remember; and
- must feel big to the point of overwhelming without tipping you over the edge. You know you can achieve it, you’re just not quite sure how…yet.
When you make it worthwhile in this way, it makes it a goal worth pursuing and has the elements you need to kickstart your motivation.
2. A vision of the future
The next step is to immerse in what it’s going to look like when you achieve your goal. You do this by understanding all of the elements that will exist when you achieve it and create an end vision of where you are and what you’re doing, including the 5 senses and what it:
- Looks like – what do you see around you? Where are you? Who do you see with you?
- Sounds like – what can you hear in this environment? What are the sounds in the foreground and the background?
- Smells like – what can you smell? Is there a dominant smell and something more subtle?
- Tastes like – how does it taste in your mouth? What flavours or textures do you experience?
- Feels like – are you hot or cold? How does your body feel? Where do you feel your success in your body?
By bringing the 5 senses together you create a strong anchor of this future where you have successfully achieved your goals. This builds on the motivational anchor and gives you a reference point for when it’s feeling tough.
3. Fully committed
You have a worthy goal, you know what it looks like in the future, now it’s time to fully commit! Before you go quitting your job and running off into the sunset of the future, let me make sure we’re on the same page about fully committing.
This means you take actions consistently and intentionally that move you towards your goals and you stop taking actions that move you further away from your goals. Sometimes the future we’re aspiring to requires big changes (in fact it usually does) and these aren’t often realistic to achieve overnight. For example, a change of career or starting your own business often require groundwork before you make the move.
Start by planning the first big step towards your goal. What do you need to achieve first to start moving towards the future?
Once you know this, take an inventory of your day, week and month. To do this create a table with two columns and write down in a list all of the actions you take in a day; then add a +, – or 0 for positive, negative or neutral action. Repeat this step for the week and the month so you can capture the actions you take less than daily. You can download our free worksheet here to help you get started.
Action | Rating |
Once you have these lists you can see where it is that you’re spending time that aligns with your goal and what you need to change. You can then work towards replacing those actions that don’t move you closer to your goals with actions that do!
This might seem insignificant and it’s these small changes, that will enable you consistently move closer and demonstrate your commitment to the goal. It might be that you replace some TV time with study or remove an expenditure like buying lunch each day with taking it from home to save the money you need to get started. Whatever it is, these small changes demonstrate your commitment to yourself and others.
Once you are moving towards your goal, start telling people about your goal and the steps you’re taking to achieve it, this will help you stay accountable to yourself and others. Get others excited about what you’re working towards so they are invested in supporting you (particularly those that can help you succeed).
By getting started before you start telling people you balance the reality of executing with the reward of the support of others. By avoiding getting all those feel good reward hormones with none of the work, you keep yourself more accountable than when you tell people before you start.
At some stage you are going to have to do the thing that’s daunting. You’ve planned well, you’ve taken the first steps and done the ground work, now, assess the risk, mitigate the risk and take the leap! By working through this process and knowing the risks you will be equipped to take meaningful strides towards the goal. It will be scary and you’re prepared so go get it!
4. Give yourself self compassion
I have some bad news, chasing big goals comes with risks and you are likely going to experience a range of emotions, setbacks and maybe even some failure along the way. In the words of Alexander Pope “To err is human, to forgive divine”.
The ability to recognise that if the same happened to someone else you would offer them kindness and support and offer the same to yourself is part of this adventure.
Take time to offer yourself kindness and self compassion. Recognise that you’re operating outside of your comfort zone: you’re stretching and growing and challenging yourself, and that, in itself, is something to be proud of.
When your inner critic rears their ugly head (and they will), hear that voice, listen to what they’re saying, test it for truth and then let it go. You will either have identified a risk you need to consider, or you will recognise that it’s not the truth. This is part of acting with self compassion, don’t ignore or squash the voice, simply acknowledge it and let it go.
Spend some time immersing in your vision of the future. Return to that place and experience those 5 senses and own the feeling in your body when you succeed. Take pleasure in this process and revisiting.
By offering yourself this much needed self compassion without aiming for toxic positivity or trying to stamp it down you are better equipped to continue and boost your intrinsic motivation.
Now go get it!
You’ve read the steps, now’s the time to go get it. Invest in yourself and living a fulfilled life aligned to purpose and goal achievement!
If you want help getting started or support while you make your goals a reality reach out, helping people recognise and achieve their goals is what I do.
