SMARTER Goal-Setting That Works

Have you heard about this 1979 Harvard Business School MBA study on goal setting? It's very popular amongst the personal development, uh, entrepreneurial growth spaces. There are several gurus out there who refer to this study often, so. Here's what it effectively entails. In 1979, there was a study conducted on a graduating class, and it asked a single question about goal setting, which is this, have you set written goals and have you created a plan for their attainment and prior to graduation?

It was determined that 84% of the entire class had no set goals at all. Okay? This is Harvard Business School, and 84% of them had no set goals. 13% of the class had written goals, but no concrete plans for attaining them, and just 3%. Of the entire graduating class that was studied had both written goals and concrete plans for attaining them. 3%. Can you guess what the results are? Welcome to Passion and Profits Without Burnout. I'm your host, Jacob Moore.

I'm a speaker coach, childhood suicide law survivor and filmmaker who left Hollywood to follow my heart of service. I've helped tens of thousands of people find the balance in their life between passion and profits. I'm gonna show, I'm gonna teach you how to build a trauma responsive, resilient, and impactful community and organization all without burning out. Let's get started. 10 years later, the 13% of the class that had set written.

But had made no concrete plans, were making twice as much money as the 84% of the class who had no set goals at all. But here's the real wild thing, that 3% of the class that had both written goals and concrete plans for attaining them, we're making 10 times as much as the rest of the 97% of their class. 3% making 10 times more than the other. 97%. Sit with that for a second. What does that mean to you and this idea of, of goal setting?

I would imagine it evokes a sense of, Hey, I gotta set some goals, right. . Well, here's the the thing. Um, this study is off debated and is completely unsubstantiated. Yeah. . So why am I telling you about it? Uh, because in fact, um, if you google this study, there's a ton out there about it, and you'll see another study that supposedly was conducted at Yale that pops up as well. . And that also has been unsubstantiated.

Um, but I want you to note what happened when I told you about that study because it's Harvard Business School, right? And we have statistics on people who set goals and people who didn't. And the amount of money that they're making that psychologically just flips a. For most of us, right? We say, well, the people at Harvard are doing it and there's a study conducted on it. Then A, it must be true, and B, like that's something simple that I can do, right?

Setting goals and having a clear plan to attain them.

So it's almost irrelevant whether or not the study is true because the effect on you. the same. Right. Well, here's the thing. We know intrinsically that goal setting is important, and there are actually tons of studies that. Prove that to be true. Um, in fact, uh, one such study was done by a statistic brain, um, to statistic brain institute for technology or for research.

And, um, it basically, you know, said something similar to what this supposed Harvard study did, which is, um, and, and this is related to New Year's goals. Um, Very few people actually have goals, set goals, and even less follow through with them. Um, it's something like only 8% of people achieve their goals and 92%, uh, fail at them. Uh, less than half of people actually make goals in the United States, and 17% of them make them infrequently, and 38% of them never make them at all.

Another interesting thing about that study is that only 75% of people made it through the first week. 71% of people made it past two weeks. 64% of people made it past one month, and only 46% of people made it past six months. So what does that tell us? That a quarter of the people didn't even make it past the first week of their New Year's goals. That resonate with you at all?

Cuz I, I know I have been in that boat and as we are now, well into 2023, I'm gonna guess that, um, many of you have not made it past that week, two, week, one month mark at this point, which is okay because guess what? There's a ton of other people out there that are in the same boat as you, but. You're listening to this podcast because you want to do better, right? For yourself, for your family, your community, for the people that you serve. Um, so.

Let's take this idea of goal setting into action. So, uh, for the rest of our time together today, I wanna talk about smarter goals. And, uh, this is not, um, this is not hyperbole. Uh, I'm not, I'm not saying like you need to be smarter. Um, smarter is an acronym and I'm going to share what smarter means. Um, s is for specific. M is for meaningful, A is for achievable, R is for relevant, T is for time-bound. E is for evaluate. R is for Readjust Smarter, the acronym.

Okay. And, and you can look this up as well. I'll, I'll, I'll include a link for, um, smarter goals. Um, And, and we'll go into each of these a little bit, but you know, what I want to point out is that this system, a smarter goal setting system, um, is one approach to goal setting. Okay? Um, it doesn't really matter if you use this system, um, but only that you have a system, uh, and that you.

Some sort of accountability or some sort of system, some way of tracking, because otherwise goals tend to float off into the ether, right? So, um, let's look at what about this system in particular, the smarter system, uh, makes it work.

So one, uh, is, is specific, right? The S is for specific. You need to be very, very specific about your goals. When we are like excruciatingly detailed with our goal setting, there's magic that happens in our brains. We have the power to imagine things into fruition. We have the power to. Recall memories and see visions of the future. In our mind's eye, we can create the vision of a very specific goal, and the more detail you provide to that goal, the more your mind will see it as something.

So getting very specific with your goals, uh, will help it help make it more tangible, more real to your brain. And we know that if your brain believes something to be true i e a Harvard study, then you are more likely to take action on it, right? The caveat with that being, uh, that holding. A vision to Precious and not being, being inflexible with it, uh, can lead to a sense of failure if, uh, it does not look exactly like we want it to look. Uh, we can talk more about that at another time.

Um, but just having that neuroplasticity when it comes to this idea of specific goals is, is really important as well. Um, so let's move on to step two. Uh, the M is for me. . So it cannot be making money for the sake of making money or looking, you know, good for the sake of, of looking good, losing weight so that I am more attractive. Um, arguably those things are not meaningful, right? This has to be connected to your core values, who you are.

What your life's work is, what is something that is akin to your mission that your, your goals align with. So it has to be something very, very meaningful to you. If it is not deep-rooted in that, that meaningful, um, approach, then it's very easy for that to, you know, get lost.

When life gets in the way. Step three, the is for achievable. Okay. If a goal is not achievable, if it is too hard, too momentous, the, you know, then it is something that is easy to give up on. There's this sense of like trying to, you know, climb Mount Everest without having prepared for. , um, you're not gonna make it past base camp, right?

So it has to be achievable for you right now where you are at, uh, in the sense that you have, um, the ability, the resources, the connections, at least to put the puzzle pieces together, right? You don't have to have everything in place right now to achieve that goal, but you, you have to be. Moving towards them, or it has to be a reasonable thing for you to do. Um, so achievable and, um, you know, our ability to achieve, um, can evolve over time. Uh, which is, which is cool.

That's a fantastic thing about achievement, um, is that once we

hit a certain level of achievement, um, then it's easier to hit the next level of achievement. Um, r is relevant, um, This fourth step, uh, is the, the goal has to be relevant to your life, to your work, to you know who you are to, you know, you as, as a per person. If, um, you have a goal that is not relevant to you, um, if, if it doesn't align with what you want out of. Then what's the point?

What's the point of being famous, uh, for the sake of being famous, uh, if that has no relevance to, you know, or is not a byproduct of what you want to achieve, right? So, um, going to Hollywood and wanting to be a movie star for the sake of being famous, uh, is not the same as going to Hollywood, working really hard as an actor and.

Achieving success and there by fame. Um, that's, that's a different sort of approach. Um, step five T is time bound. So this one I will share with a caveat. Um, there is some debate in the goal setting the world about, Signing a timeframe to goals, um, especially when it comes to, um, things like, um, trauma recovery, um, substance use, recovery, um, things related to personal development in the sense of, um, you are trying to overcome a monumental hurdle in your life.

Um, having goals that are time bound can be a little self-sabotaging and. I would say, you know, if this is related to, if this is something related to your health, your wellbeing, uh, survival, then um, perhaps it's good to speak with a therapist, doctor, financial advisor, someone, um, who can give you some insight into whether or not the timeframe is reasonable or achievable.

Given your particular set of circumstances, but let's set that aside for a second and just look at, um, you know, those like intrinsic goals that are, um, focused on your professional development or, you know, some type of achievement in your life, um, not related to overcoming some sort of, you know, big personal hurdle, having a timeframe attached to it. Gives us the added benefit of that little, little pressure, that little, um, the sense of the, the time, um, ticking away, right?

Um, we have a finite amount of minutes in our lives and understanding that when we set a goal that has some timeframe assigned to it, um, when we look at that relative to our life, to our goals, uh, for our life as a whole. We, we need to sort of move the needle along with some of these, um,

goals if we want to achieve them in a reasonable amount of time in our lives. Okay, step six E is for evaluate, uh, having a way to evaluate your goals, to measure them, um, to be able to, um, quantify what the goal is. Uh, success or achievement means for a specific goal is really important. Um, this should be part of your goal setting process, a way to evaluate, uh, whether or not your goal is. First of all, you know, sound and reasonable. Um, but then, um, are you making progress towards it?

Um, oftentimes it can be helpful to have, um, someone from the outside, a trusted advisor take a look at the goal and, um, give their opinion on whether or not it is reasonable, um, and that outside input can be helpful. Your own self-evaluation of those goals. And of course if it's, you know, say a monetary goal, um, I wanna make X amount of money by this date, um, well, that's something that you can evaluate very easily, right?

Are you making enough money on a daily, weekly, monthly basis to, you know, reach that goal? Um, but having that built in and, uh, something that I would encourage you to do is to, uh, make sure that you. Setting some type of reminder, putting in your calendar, um, you know, a timeframe to evaluate your goals, um, and to do so at very various periods along the way. For instance, um, I'm, uh, training for a marathon right now.

Marathon is in October, and, um, it's early to begin training for a marathon. Um, but I have set. Some short term and intermediary goals, uh, leading up to this marathon, um, in October. So I am, uh, in the spring running a 10 K, and that 10 k, um, is what I'm currently training for.

And, um, getting those, you know, miles, those five miles or so under my belt, and to be able to do so within a specific, you know, goal timeframe, um, will help prepare me for my, um, intermediate goal, um, which is a half marathon in June. That will then, you know, get me to the midway point of, uh, my eventual goal, which is a marathon. And, uh, there's enough time in between the half marathon and the marathon to do a full marathon training.

So I have set three, you know, three um, increments to this goal of running a marathon and doing so in a way that is hopefully sustainable and will be injury free. Right. So, I evaluate my progress towards each of those goals, uh, on a daily basis, um, or each time that I run, um, I'm evaluating am I making progress towards all three of those goals? Keeping in mind that the cumulative miles that I'm doing each week should be increasing with the goal of, you know, running 25 or so miles a.

By mid-summer, um, or late summer so that I can reasonably achieve a marathon in one sitting . Running as it may be. So, um, evaluate, uh, step seven is readjust. This goes back to that idea of the, the neuroplastic plasticity, um, the, the flexibility of your brain to say, Hey, my life changes, my circumstances change, and so my goal has to change. So you have this very. Involve detailed, um, vision that you set up for your goal in the very beginning.

And as you go, as you evaluate, sometimes you have to adjust and that is okay. That is what life is about, and that's what truly successful people are able to do is say, Hey. This is, this looks different than what I had had originally envisioned. So I'm gonna course correct and now adjust, um, towards, uh, a goal that's more aligned with where I'm at right now. Or perhaps say, you know what? That goal that I set a year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, it no longer applies.

It no longer applies to my current life circumstances, and it's. To set that aside and to abandon a goal. The important thing is, is that along the way you have flexed those muscles in setting yourself towards a goal. Um, it is more important that you are working towards something and that you have, uh, a, a system for doing that. Then actually reaching the. That's not to say that you should abandon all of your goals and that it doesn't matter if you never achieve a goal.

No. It's just to say that like the vision of that changes and we need to allow for the fluidity of life and the fact that, um, that things, things change and that's okay. So, uh, smarter goal setting. Uh, I'll, I'll link in the show notes, um, a resource for that. And, um, uh, something that will hopefully be helpful for you, um, with, with goal setting. So, again, whether or not this Harvard Business Study, um, is, is actually, you know, true or not.

Goal setting is important, and it is something that, you know, we can all, um, do regardless of where you went to school or if, like me, you didn't go to school at all. Uh, we still have the ability to work towards goals and to have success, um, by whatever measure. That, uh, is for us. Well, that's all I have for today. Um, before I let you go, I just want to ask, uh, one favor. If you could please, um, hop over to YouTube, youtube.com/ Jacob Moore and subscribe to my podcast there.

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So I would appreciate it. Thanks very much, and until next time, be well. Thanks so much for listening to Passion and Profits. Without. I hope that you found some impactful takeaways, and if you did, I'd love to hear from you. Share a screenshot on your IG story, tag me or send me a quick message. This show is for you, so any feedback is welcomed. Hey, and make sure you're also subscribed to the show so you don't miss any of our new episodes.

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