Go Beyond SMART Goals for Success – Add Pre and Post SMART Steps

We are inching towards the end of the first quarter of the year, if you can believe that. That also means that it is time to start reviewing your progress towards the goals you set for this first quarter and the year. If you are using the SPRINT method I have spoken about before, now is the time to evaluate what has been completed and what will carry forward. You should be wrapping up many of the items you have been working towards in the first several weeks of the year.

To assist in refining your goal setting and, more importantly, goal effectiveness strategy, I am sharing some ways you can make SMART goals SMARTER, and to plan ahead to help ensure you will be concentrating on the right things.

Before you finalize your goals for your next SPRINT, or when you are reviewing options for what you attack next, use these three steps to ensure you are selecting the right goals for your specific situation at the moment. This is your PRE goal planning stage.

P – Purpose

Why do you want to achieve this goal right now? What greater purpose does it serve in your life at the moment? Clearly defining the why behind the goal ensures it is a good fit for the timing and will help strengthen the resolve you have for accomplishing this particular goal.

R – Relevant

Is this the right time to take this goal on? Tying into your purpose, will this goal help you make the progress you need in the most pressing areas in your life right now? Exploring this, especially within the thirteen-week SPRINT format, can help ensure you are tackling only the most relevant and necessary items at the moment. 

Note that relevance is often a step within the SMART goal framework itself. It seems like understanding whether what you are planning to accomplish is relevant should happen before you get too far into establishing your goal. With that in mind, I have moved this to the PRE planning stages of SMART goals. In doing so, I have adjusted the ‘R’ in SMART to reflect ‘Risky.’ Michael Hyatt uses this in his SMART goal framework, and I believe it makes a lot of sense. He also includes relevant in his SMARTER goal framework—more on the ‘ER’ part of SMART goals below.

E – Exciting

The last of the PRE goal-setting steps is to ensure that your goal is exciting. If you feel like you have to go through the motions of achieving a goal, you are less likely to achieve it or achieve it to its full potential. These are your goals; they can be whatever you want them to be. Make them something you are eager for and interested in doing.

That is a look at the steps you should take in preparing to finalize and fully establish your SMART goals. Once those are complete, begin your work on what you are setting out to achieve. 

The SMART framework largely stays intact to what you read in most goal-setting tutorials. As noted above, I have elected to change the ‘R’ to risky. But, below is the breakdown of SMART goals that I find works exceptionally well.

SMART goals framework 

S – Specific

Ensure your goals are clearly defined for what you want to achieve. Use times, dates, and clear achievable outcomes that leave no ambiguity.

M – Measurable

Having a specific goal should also mean it can be measured. Validate that. How will you know whether you are succeeding? If there is not a clear way to measure success, review whether it is specific enough. 

A – Attainable

Are you setting your goal in a way that the outcome can actually be achieved? Is it realistic in nature, time constraints, and available resources?

R – Risky

A new addition for most SMART frameworks. As mentioned above, adopted from Michael Hyatt’s approach. Your goals should push you. They should not be easy to achieve. Make sure you are stretching yourself, yet still remaining realistic in what you are seeking for an outcome.

T – Time Based

Being specific and ensuring you can measure your goal will require a time-based one. Define what that timeline is. Using the specific approach, how you will measure it, validating whether it can be attained, and stretching yourself all ties into being time-based. This piece connects it all together.

Following up on your goals once they are underway

Making your goals smartER helps to ensure you achieve what you are seeking. I wrote about these two additions at the end of January, responding to a question I am often asked about what SMART goals really are. I believe these are important steps to ensure you remain on track to achieve the success you are looking for.

E – Evaluate

Evaluate your progress on the goal you have set. Where are you making a difference and seeing success? Where are the opportunities or roadblocks that you need to overcome?

R – React

React to the evaluation you have performed. Identifying any obstacles or even successes is only half the equation. You need to take action on what you are discovering about the activities you have already taken (or not taken). If you see progress and success, how do you continue to build on that? Can you accelerate the positive outcomes? If you have discovered obstacles, what changes need to be made to work around or remove them to achieve the expected results?

These are your goals, so set yourself up for success. Have a PRE goal-setting plan to ensure you are concentrating on the right items to make the appropriate movement for the moment you are in. Having SMART goals written and visible for yourself will give you the best opportunity to see them through to successful completion. By having a weekly follow-up strategy to make your SMART goals SMARTER, you will protect yourself from looking back at the end of a period and realize you were not on track and cannot achieve what you had hoped. I think you will find that having a PRE goal planning process will ensure you are smarter about your goals in general.

How can you use the PRE and ER approach to enhance your goal setting process?

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