Trouble with SMART Goals? Try SMARTER Goals

One of the most popular formulas for setting goals is SMART goals. Smart stands for:

S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Achievable
R- Realistic
T- Timed

All these components are definitely an important part of creating a goal. And not having all these components would make if more difficult to reach your goals. But the SMART formula doesn't include the two most important goal achieving aspects.

Emotion
If you are not emotionally attached to your goal there is no way you will ever do the work to achieve it. Many people assume that if they want a goal they must be attached to achieving it. Make as many SMART goals as you like, but if there is no thrill of excitement when you look at your goal it's not a great goal.

Emotion is where you should start when you sit down to write your goal. Instead of basing goals on what you might like having, base them on your biggest dreams. What gets you really excited? What would make you itching to get started? Obviously this can be anything, but it must be a desire to suits YOU. You can never share a goal of someone else's as you just wont have the right emotional connection to that goal. Can you see yourself with the goal? Does the thought make your heart sing?.

Right
This one is not so intuitive, but your goal must be Right. It has to be right for you, your family, and everyone in the world. Most people are basically good, certainly if you weren’t a good person you probably would not be reading this article. You wont be able to work toward a goal that would harm you or anyone else. You would simply sabotage yourself.

Now the important thing again is this is your view of right and wrong, and it differs for everyone. What's right for someone else is not always right to you. So think about the goal as a whole, what you would have to do to achieve it and actually possessing it. How will it feel to do whatever you have to do to reach the goal? If it makes you happy, driven, and elated then it is probably Right for you. If it's something you wish you could possess, but the idea of the journey makes you feel ill and bad about yourself, it's just not the right goal for you.

Next you must examine what is making you feel this way. Is it a limiting belief that you carry, such as “money is the root of all evil”, “my wealth means someone else must be poor”. Or is the goal actually harmful to others and would it ruin your own self-respect. Obviously if it is the latter you must get a new goal, but generally it is the former. This doesn't mean you need a new goal, but you have to clear out the limiting beliefs to be able to achieve the goal. Don't attempt to reach the goal until you can gather evidence to support a belief that this goal is good for you and the world. If this fails, get a better goal.

SMART goals are important, but there is more to successfully achieving goals. People are often left wondering what they did wrong, why they never could reach their "smart" goal. Generally it's because they didn't have an emotional attachment to the goal, or they sabotaged themselves as they didn't believe the goal was Right.

Therefore, rather than using SMART goals I suggest using SMARTER goals.

S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Achievable
R- Realistic
T- Timed
E- Emotional
R- Right