Y’all! It’s officially Christmas in July today! If you know me, then you know I do NOT pass up a chance to celebrate Christmas.
We got Christmas treats from my favorite bakery. We watched The Muppet Christmas Carol. I got tickets for the family to see the ‘Brian Setzer Orchestra 16th Annual Christmas Rocks!’ show in December. And I’ve been listening to my favorite Christmas music.
One of the things I love about Christmas in July is that it serves as a wake-up call – a reminder that we’re more than halfway to the end of the year. A lot of people realize half the year’s gone, and they’re nowhere near where they need to be on meeting their goals for that year. A lot of people simply forget their goals for the year – that’s if they made any goals at all.
But why should goals even matter?
A few years ago, Dr. Gail Matthews, a professor in Dominican University’s Department of Psychology, performed a study on goal-setting. She found that you’re 42% more likely to meet your goals when you clearly articulate and write them down. And you’re even more likely to meet your goals if you share your progress regularly with a friend or accountability partner.
I meet with too many people who have no goals or objectives in their roles and too many who have vague objectives like: “grow revenue,” “develop and cultivate new relationships,” “manage the budget.” Sometimes they’re just going through the motions to mark “goal-setting” off their checklist. But usually they’ve just never learned how to clearly define and articulate their goals.
Good news: there’s a simple solution to help ensure you’ve got YOUR goals clearly defined. 60% of the time, it works every time. I’m referring to what Michael Hyatt calls the SMARTER standard.
What are SMARTER goals? Glad you asked. They’re goals that are:
Specific: identifying precisely what you want to accomplish. The narrower you can make it, the more powerful it’ll be.
Measurable: identifying how you’ll gauge your progress. If your goal’s not measurable, you won’t know if you’ve reached it.
Actionable: what you’re actually going to do. You’ll want to use good, strong action verbs here.
Risky: something that’s outside of your comfort zone. If you start by asking, “what’s realistic?” then you’re setting your bar too low.
Time-keyed: the deadline for completing your goal. If you simply set all your deadlines for the end of the year, you’ll likely not achieve your goals. And your holidays will be miserable.
Exciting: something that will be transformational for you. For a goal to be exciting, it needs to be one that’s inspires you, one that engages your heart, one that you’re willing to put in the work to achieve it.
Relevant: something that aligns with the legitimate demands and constraints of your life. If you’re a new parent working a full-time job, you probably shouldn’t make it your goal to attend and complete grad-school within one year.
After I’ve defined my goals, I also like to plan how I’ll reward myself when I achieve them. It’s usually vinyl. Or ice cream. Or eating ice cream while listening to some new vinyl. (Contrary to what my wife believes, simply achieving the goal is NOT the reward itself).
So instead of simply drifting through the rest of the year, here’s what you can do:
- Schedule time on your calendar for next week. Set a time where you’re less likely to be distracted.
- Review your goals for the year. Do they follow the SMARTER format? If not, refine them. If you don’t currently have any goals for the year, you’ve still got 5 months left to accomplish some big things! Now’s your chance to create some clear and actionable goals.
- Schedule 30 minutes on your calendar for every week for the rest of the year. This is your time to regularly review how you’re tracking against your goals and figure out what actions you need to take to stay on track.
- Schedule time for your rewards for when you do meet your goals.
Sticking to a 30-minute weekly review session may sound excessive, but your January1, 2020 self will be so grateful that you did.
You’ve got this!
