Recently, I was in an online meeting with about twenty other people. We started the meeting with each person sharing their 2021 resolutions. Something struck me as I heard each person share their resolution. I kept hearing phrases like, “I want to try to…,” “I want to be more…,” “I want to do more of…,” “I want to spend more time doing…” 

With each person, I wanted to pause and say, “Wait. How are you going to measure that? How are you going to track that? How will you know when you’ve actually achieved that?” But it wasn’t the time or place, and it could have easily turned an hour meeting into a three hour meeting.

[NOTE: If you were at that meeting with me, please reach out. I’ll walk you through a process to more clearly define what you want to achieve in 2021 and to create an action plan to achieve it.] 

Every December 31, millions of Americans swear the next year will be better. “New Year! New me!” They’ll declare New Year’s resolutions of what they’d like to achieve in their lives. Unfortunately,  92% of them fail! You think that’s bad? 80% of them give up on their resolution before the end of January.

Why is that? How can that many people fail at something that SHOULD BE important to them?

Most New Year’s resolutions are like presidential campaign promises – too aspirational, too ambitious, too vague, too unrealistic, and deep down, you know it’s really never going to happen.

If you don’t have your resolutions well-thought out and clearly defined, they’re destined to fail. 

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions anymore. In fact, I’m still celebrating Christmas until a week after New Year’s (we celebrate all twelve days of Christmas in our house, thank you very much.)

So what’s the solution? How are we able to improve on our lives and continue to grow? The simple answer is, we set and achieve goals. And good news: you don’t HAVE to set aside just December 31 to set those goals. You can even set them after Epiphany on January 7 (like me) or January 15 or even February 1. And if a global pandemic happens to completely derail much of your life, you can even go back and create new goals.

But you do need to set them. And they need to be clearly defined. And you need to set a method for tracking and achieving them. Thankfully, there’s a powerful framework for that.

You’ve probably heard of SMART goals. But have you heard of SMARTER goals?

Michael Hyatt introduced me to the SMARTER standard for goal setting a handful of years ago, and I’ve been using that framework ever since. And it’s been pretty cool to track how I’ve grown and improved in various life areas through those goals.

Just in case you’re wondering, Michael didn’t create the SMARTER system just to stand out by having a different name. This framework is based on insights from the best goal-achievement research currently available, and it’s designed to drive results.

You can get in-depth learning of this framework in Michael’s course: 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever. I’ve gone through this course for the last four years, and it’s so fun tracking where I’ve come from, what I’ve achieved, and where I’m heading.

If you’re unable to invest in his course just yet, you can get his book: 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever.  It walks you through the same framework and gives you some cool success stories on what others have been able to achieve through it.

But you’re still probably wondering, “What even is the SMARTER framework?” It’s a way of reducing written goals into goals that are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Risky, Time-keyed, Exciting and Relevant.

I’ll break it down for you here.

1) Specific

The first step of the SMARTER goal framework is that your goals must be specific. Your ability to focus is a powerful asset. The more you’re able to narrow in on what you’re trying to achieve, the more likely you are to achieve it. What if your goal is to learn how to shoot? “Learn how to shoot” is too vague. It’s not specific. What do you even want to shoot? My son Allen wants to learn how to better shoot a bow and arrow. So a specific goal would be, “Learn how to shoot a bow and arrow by attending archery class once a week on Thursdays.” Now, that’s specific.

2) Measurable

The second step of the SMARTER goal framework is that your goals must have a built-in measuring system. How would you know when you reach your goal?  How would you know if you’re tracking along well to achieving it?

It’s not inspiring, or motivating, to simply say, “I want to make more money.” or “I want to lose some weight.” Like Zig Ziglar says, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

What if your goal is to write more blog posts. Well, that’s not really specific because we don’t know how many posts you want to write, or exactly how much “more” is.

And, how do you know when you’ve achieved your goal? A SMARTER goal would be “Write ten new blog posts by the end of March.

3) Actionable

The third step of the SMARTER framework is to make your goals actionable. Simply, you need to include one or two action verbs in the goal that you write down.

Don’t use a being-verb, such as “Be more consistent in writing blog posts.” Instead, use a verb that’s clear and direct, such as “Write two blog posts a week.” Now that’s actionable.

4) Risky

The fourth step of the SMARTER framework is setting risky goals. Traditionally, the “R” in SMART goals means “realistic,” but research shows that when we start by asking ourselves what’s realistic, we’re more likely to lower the bar to something that’s easy.

In fact, it takes the same amount of energy and drive to achieve a small goal as it does to achieve a big goal. So if there’s no difference in the amount of energy involved, why waste it on something small?

And really,  has anything of major significance ever happened because we kept it realistic and easy.

5) Time-Keyed

The fifth step of the SMARTER framework is setting goals that are time-keyed, meaning they have a deadline. If your goal doesn’t have a deadline then you’re likely missing a sense of urgency.

I don’t know about you, but when I have a deadline to meet, somehow, the creative juices and energy needed to meet that deadline tends to show up. Without a deadline, it’s unlikely that it will ever happen.

6) Exciting

The sixth step of the SMARTER framework is that your goals should be exciting. 

If your goal isn’t exciting or emotionally motivating to you, then why even bother? It’ll likely cause you more frustration if you’re not emotionally invested in it. How about a goal to go to the gym or a goal to run? Believe it or not, those may not be exciting to a lot of people. But what if the core reason for going to the gym or running has nothing to do with exercise? What if it actually has to do with being healthier, being stronger, improving your quality of life, improving your longevity so you can stick around to see your grandkids, improving your energy so you’ll be able to actually play with your grandkids? That’s exciting.
 

7) Relevant

The last key to unlocking the SMARTER goal system is that your goals must be relevant to your current situation and your season of life. I can make a goal to practice enough basketball to get me into the NBA, but my current situation (being 5’6”) and my season of life (a 44 year-old father of two who’s not yet financially independent) makes that goal irrelevant.

Oh, and just so you know, it’s not part of the SMARTER framework, but I always define how I’m going to reward myself when I achieve my goals. The rewards don’t have to be significant, extravagant or expensive – just something enough to help with my motivation. A couple of years ago, I had a goal to be on-time to 100% of my meetings at work for at least six months. For each month I met 100%, I bought myself a new vinyl album (usually under $20). So in that six month period I bought myself five new albums. 

Once you learn how to use this framework to tie goal setting to goal achievement, you’ll be able to achieve things you’ve always dreamed of. And you can have your best year ever too.

I finished up setting my SMARTER goals earlier this week, and I even shared them with Rachel to make sure I wasn’t completely off-base (She approved, and she’s excited about my goals too). 

I’m sure we can all agree that we’re glad to have 2020 behind us, and we’re hopeful for 2021. But hope alone isn’t going to help us achieve our goals. By intentionally setting and tracking our goals through the right framework, 2021 can be not just better than 2020, but our best year ever.