Choosing Your Hard: How Uncommon Leaders Set SMAHT Goals

I talk about it in the trailer episode that really it is about Monday morning quarterbacking just a little bit and that it's an opportunity for us to kind of sit down , work together and just enjoy our cup of coffee and learn a little bit more and dive deeper into some of those things that were there .

I recently had a conversation with Chris Widener on the Uncommon Leader podcast and it was a fantastic episode . When I had a chance to chat with Chris , I was humbling . No doubt he's a Hall of Fame speaker .

He's a two-time best-selling author , he is also a ghostwriter for John Maxwell , one of the authors that I love to read myself , and he was a Seattle Supersonics ball boy when he was a kid as well , so the story that impacted him when he was a child as a leader today was pretty cool . If you get a chance , you ought to take a listen back to that episode .

We actually had a chance to even reminisce a little bit about some of the players on that team , jack Sigma , and a specific story that he had in there about DJ Dennis Johnson , who became a favorite of mine when he went to the Boston Celtics .

I've been a longtime Boston Celtics fan , but take a look back at that episode coachjohngallaghercom forward slash podcast and you can find that interview that I had with Chris Widener . What I really

appreciated about my conversation with Chris was , uh , an upcoming event that he was planning and heading up . It's called revive 25 .

And ultimately , as he defined it as a massive revival , the opportunity to bring 15,000 or more Christians together in one place and millions more online , really to think about how we can have a bigger impact as Christians in our communities , in our country and in our world today .

I'm pretty jazzed up about what's possible , and he said that's going to be out in the next 90 days . They were just getting the website launched up . If you get a chance , go to revive25.org and take a look at that . I think it's going to be a phenomenal event .

But for me , as I kind of sat back and reflected on that a little bit , it reminded me a little bit of goal setting , and that's what I want to talk to you a little bit about today , something I think will have an impact on you and how we sometimes get goal setting wrong , and maybe some tips on how we could get it right

. For me , one of the goal setting problems , if you will , that I often run into is perfection .

I think there are other things like fear of setting goals , that I might not get it right and I might be ridiculed for it , or the accountability that comes along with setting goals that I might not get it right and I might be ridiculed for it , or the accountability that comes along with setting goals and having someone really hold me accountable makes me

uncomfortable as well . But ultimately , I think that idea behind perfection is one of the things that keeps me from setting and achieving goals at times . Very specific is the reason for this podcast .

Right here , I've been working with my strategist at Brand Builders Group on improving the performance of the Uncommon Leader podcast , and one of the goals that I had for 2025 was to double the number of episodes that I recorded in 2024 . Now it's a weekly podcast . That means I was going to have to do two a week .

Here we are really early March and I'm hitting the record button for the first time , the perfection that sat in my mind was that I wanted things perfect before I hit that record button .

I wanted the name of it to be perfected and I wanted the content to be perfected and I wanted to know , should I have it be an interview format or some other , when really what I needed to do was just to hit the button and get started . It reminds me when I think about that , hit the button , hit that record button .

It reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the movie Rush Hour , where Chris Tucker was there and soon Lee was the girl who had a bomb strapped to her chest and the villain was in the same room , about 15 miles away with a button to explode that bomb that was on the jacket that she was wearing and Chris Tucker Trish Tucker in the show .

He brought her close to her , the villain , and said go ahead , push the button . And then , even soon , lee got into it and said , yeah , push the damn button . Well , that's something that keeps in my mind when I get things started like that . And even my coach said John , just push the daggone button , push record and get started .

Don't worry about perfection , just keep practicing and you'll get there . So here we are today , ultimately , and we got started . But that was a little bit of digression there in terms of talking about the movie . Let's talk about goal setting just a little

bit . I know that you've heard many of the listeners of the Uncommon Leader podcast have heard this acronym SMART specific , measurable , action-oriented , realistic and time-based . But I'm here to suggest to you just a little bit of a modification to that acronym . My Boston friends will appreciate this just a little bit , but imagine if they were saying SMART .

It comes out as SMOT wicked SMOT is how they start to talk about it , and I'm suggesting that's how we spell the SMART acronym . Going forward , it's still specific , it's still measurable , it's still action-oriented and time-based , but we're going to replace the R with an H and that H , rather than being realistic , that H , is going to be hard .

We're going to choose something hard or we're ultimately going to say something to the effect of heaven . We're going to need your help to get that done . We're called to be uncommon leaders . We're not called to set realistic goals . Realistic is not what it is that changed the world .

It's hard that changes the world and sometimes that requires intervention , if you will , with some of the goals that we set . Look , I think about this and I think about a book I just read , just finished up , by Craig Groeschel Bold Prayers and he asked a question .

Inside of that book he said if all the prayers that you prayed over the last week were to be answered , how would the world be different ? And I just thought that was a great challenging question . I want to use a question like that just in terms of your goal setting .

If all of the goals that you've set have come to fruition for you , how would your world be a different place ? Would it be something that is better ? Would it be something that's just better for you ? We're really looking to make an impact on the world and not just a realistic impact .

So I want to challenge you to really change that up to the letter H when you think about that . How would things look different if you were to achieve a hard goal ? Some of the things I think about is even when we're setting those goals . Imagine , if you will let's go back to a fitness goal setting a goal of losing weight .

A realistic goal for losing weight might be to lose three pounds in four months . A hard goal might be to lose 15 pounds in four months , if you don't achieve that goal of 15 pounds , you only get to 12 . Did you really lose ? I don't think so . That's the way to look at this in terms of understanding those hard goals .

Even when you don't get there , you'd normally get farther than you would if you just set a realistic goal . So what is it about those hard goals ? Look , if I bring a scriptural reference and it was something that was in my daily reading today was Matthew 28 , 19 , the great commission .

Ultimately , when Jesus called the disciples , he said we are to go and make disciples of all nations . He didn't say a few nations , he didn't say some nations . He didn't say your city , he said all nations . That's a hard goal . There were 12 of them , ultimately that were set out to make that happen . It was not going to be an easy goal whatsoever .

So you need to be a little bit uncomfortable in your chair . I think about this in a standpoint of when you set a realistic goal . You're like , yeah , I could achieve that , no problem , we'll get that thing done anytime . But when I set a hard goal , I got to sit forward and pay attention .

I got to step outside my comfort zone and get into my learning zone . I have to learn a new skill . I have to look and get a coach to get something like that done . I have to make a change that I wouldn't have to make necessarily if I were just setting a realistic goal .

So , just to summarize that SMOT goal specific , measurable , action-oriented , hard and time-based

. Those are the things that you're looking for . Hey , once you've set those goals , how are you going to make sure that you get to success ? I'm here to tell you I got three tips for you there as well to make sure you get there . First of all , let's write them down .

Okay , those who write down their goals are 80% more likely , based on a study , to achieve their goals . I think that's a powerful statement . Just to write them down and see them on a regular basis . Second thing I suggest is a scorecard . I'm competitive , just like the after show was kind of named after my favorite sport of football .

When they have the college football countdown or whatever it is after the show that goes over the highlights and talks about the great plays of the day . You need to set a scoreboard to see if you're winning or not and can tell how you need to make adjustments if you're not winning at the time . And then the third tip share it with somebody else .

That's going to help you to hold accountable . Don't keep those goals inside yourself , but share them , and for me , that's something that I want to talk about here right now . With this podcast , I'm going to need your help . I've been talking about one of the things I want to do is double the number of episodes , and that's really about impact .

And for me to do that , what I'm really looking to do is have more listeners , more viewers of this podcast to make it happen . So I'm here

to state a goal today that I'm going to shoot for it's 1 million downloads and views by the turn of the decade . It's specific , it's measurable , it's action oriented . It's going to require me to do a lot of different things . It's going to require me to grow and grow my skills as a podcaster .

It's time-based , it's way out there , no doubt about it , but it's a huge , it's a hard , it's a goal that's going to require intervention to get that done , and that intervention , a lot of times , is you .

If you enjoy the Uncommon Leader podcast , I encourage you to share it , I encourage you to subscribe to it and I encourage you to take just a couple minutes to go out and write a review . A five-star review is very helpful . All these things help us to get it in the hands of more listeners and more viewers .

And look , it's really not about me and about the million downloads . That's going to be the most important topic . It's about the impact that that million downloads is going to have .

A million listeners are going to be impacted by some of the messages that come out of the interviews that I have with uncommon leaders like yourself , and also that come out some of the tips that I share , that I often share with my clients . I know that's going to be a big part of it , so I hope you've enjoyed the first after show .

I hope you get a chance to share . Please do . It's something I think is going to be really cool in the future .

Oftentimes I'll finish up with a quote or a scriptural verse that might leave you inspired . And , in light of the setting hard goals this week , I want to share from a poem that is attributed to Devin Bro , and I think I'm saying his name right . I'm not even really sure , but I think it's something that really is cool .

It says starts off marriage is hard , divorce is hard . Choose your heart . Obesity is hard . Being fit is hard . Choose your heart . Being in debt is hard . Being financially disciplined is hard . Choose your heart . Communication is hard . Not communicating is hard . Choose your hard . Life will never be easy . It will always be hard , but we can choose our hard .

Pick wisely . Hey Uncommon Leaders , thanks for spending a little bit of time with me today . Now let's go out and make it happen .