Whether you’re a personal goal setter, or you only set them when required for your job, have you found yourself looking back and finding you’ve not made the progress you planned? Or worse, never got out of the starting gate? Frustrated as you might be, you’re not alone. But we’re going to fix that right now with 4DX Goal Setting!
An article published by Inc. Magazine in 2018 reported a whopping 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions. EIGHT PERCENT! If you’re among the remaining 92% like me, isn’t it time we figure out a better way to set goals for ourselves?!
Is SMART Really Smart?
I have been using the SMART method of goal setting ad nauseum for what seems like forever – figure out what you want to accomplish, then write it out so that it’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound (deadline). Blah, blah, blah…
While I wholeheartedly agree with writing a goal out for clarity, too often I see people get hung up on the words, myself included. If it’s a business goal, acompany probably expects me to write my goals in that format, and may even have paper or electronic forms with precisely those fields. So, heads-down I go trying to write what I think is going to be acceptable and approved by the powers that be. I may spend hours, or days…or if I’m really stuck and have the luxury…weeks trying to get my goal just right. And, time’s a-wasting. Am I right?
The Truth About SMART
I need you to drop everything right now, and pay attention. I’m going to tell you some hard truths about that kind of goal-setting:
- You don’t really know how your personal actions or goals feed into the big picture. (Psst…you’re really writing a project plan, aren’t you?)
- You don’t really know what to do to reach that goal, and frankly you probably don’t have the time anyway.
- You don’t really know how to tell if you’re actually reaching the big picture during the year.
- You don’t really know who’s watching to see if you’re reaching your goal.
- You don’t really know what’s going to happen if you don’t reach the goal. And…
- You don’t really know where time flew, so you don’t really know why you didn’t achieve your goal.
If you’ve never thought any of this before, I bow down in awe of you! Go ahead and carry on with your day and skip the rest of this post. BUT…if you’ve thought even one of them…keep reading! It’s time to change our approach.
A Life-Changing Book
I have followed FranklinCovey literally decades, and stumbled across a book written by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling, the smarties within FranklinCovey, not long after the book was published that’s changed how I set goals, both personally and professionally, and accelerated my goal success. It’s called The 4 Disciplines of Execution. You must read this book! (From here on out, I’ll call it 4DX)
The premise is that everyone gets caught in what they call the “whirlwind” of day to day. As the vortex is swirling around – the next emergency, yet another meeting, more work, longer hours, and oh, by the way, a child that’s sick, and groceries, and what’s for dinner, and was that bill paid …. Well, you get the picture.
When push comes to shove, we throw up our hands and drop everything, we keep swimming hoping we’ll get somewhere but in fact just tread water, or worse… something gets missed and now we’ve got real issues. And, in the end, we find that what we most WANT to accomplish takes a backseat to life and we never reach the goal. I’ve been there, and I’m sure you have, too.
Discipline & Execution
4DX focuses on discipline and execution – what does it really take to execute on a goal and achieve it? The gents have come up with four key disciplines that time again are proven to lead to success in execution.
- Focus on the Wildly Important Goal (WIG) – this is the giant target, the big hairy audacious, your DREAM that you don’t dare take your eye off and where you’re going to commit the majority of your time. The key to setting your WIG in 4DX is clarity. They call it “from X to Y by When”. Simple, clear, direct, no question. “Lose 15 pounds from January to June.”
- Act on Lead Measures – these are the activities you’re going to commit to that are going to get you to your goal. This is the forward work, not the backward look. They call them “lead measures”, and they’re things you commit to doing every day, several times a week or month, that you know will directly push you toward your goal.
Personal Setting: “I will eat breakfast daily, exercise a minimum of 20 minutes 3 days per week, reduce intake by 200 calories daily.”
Business Setting: if you want to increase sales, a lead measure might be “I will research 6 new potential customers per week”; if you want to increase your knowledge of a particular skill, a lead measure might be “I will read one ‘new learning’ book this month”
- Keep a Compelling Scorecard – this is engagement. You need to see where you (or your team) are at in keeping Lead Measure commitments.
Personal Setting: Create a tracker in your planner or on your computer and check off every time you eat breakfast, every time you exercise 20 minutes, and when/how you’ve reduced calorie intake.
Business Setting: in 4DX, they recommend a large, visible scoreboard posted within the work area. Lead measures are documented on the scoreboard, and as it’s achieved, it’s noted on the scoreboard.
- Create a Cadence of Accountability – this includes consistent, frequent review of activities, what’s working, what’s not, and correcting the course as you need to so you say on path toward your goal. Read that again…correcting the course. I think this is a key downfall for many people. You can review daily or weekly, but you MUST schedule time for candid review. Whether you’re holding yourself accountable, or you’re a member of a team holding each other accountable, this time is key to keeping momentum moving forward, not stalling or fading away.
Personal Setting: Schedule uninterrupted time on your schedule, beginning or end of the week for review. If you’re struggling with breakfast every day, what are some course corrections you can make? Breakfast 4 days a week and a protein shake the remaining 3? If you’re having a hard time fitting exercise in, can you block schedule it into your calendar as “unavailable” time?
Business Setting: Schedule “sacred time” with your team at the same time each week. Make sure everyone knows that unless they’re out sick, this is required time together, no excuses. Go through each person’s lead measure commitments for the week – what’s done, what was missed, what course corrections are needed, then make commitments for the next week. Keep it brief…you’ve got work to do!
Saying No!
Why is all this important? Your Lead Measures become your priority if you really want to achieve a goal. In the day to day whirlwind, you can ask yourself, “Is this going to get me to my goal? Is this a Lead activity?” If the answer is “no”, then move it aside, reassign, or dump it. No more getting caught up in the yuck!
Now, I know it sounds way too easy but I’m telling you…IT WORKS! It works especially well for people like me who can’t say “no”, or for those easily sucked into stuff that really isn’t any of their business (you know who you are!!).
So, here’s your assignment –
- GET THE BOOK
- READ THE BOOK
- PUT THE BOOK INTO ACTION
- ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS!
Drop me a comment and let me know what you think. Is this do-able for you? Does it make sense? Are you embracing it like I am? Love to hear from you!
