I know… stupid question.
“Of course I haven’t reached my goals! I’m still ugly, sick, broke, and stupid!”
Hold on there, partner… let me tell you a story:
A few years back, I signed up for TUT’s Notes from the Universe (highly recommended, and yes, I am an affiliate). Along with the signup, as a way to personalize the messages, I was asked to fill out a little form. One of the things to enter was “If I could have anything, I would have…” (or something like that… it has been a while.)
I typed in “a profitable personal development business.”
And I sat back smuggly… look at that, me setting a SMART goal (yes, I know now that it really wasn’t, but back then, oh boy, I just thought I had it going on!)
Every once in a while, that little goal I had set would pop up in the regular emails… and I’d wonder when it was going to happen.
Just the other day, I realize – O My God… it has!
Profitable – an amount of money greater than zero when expenses are deducted from income.
Check.
Personal Development – Creating a Better Life, Free Personal Development Material, and my newest The Diary Of A Quitter are all centered around personal growth.
Check.
Business – When I filed my taxes this year, for the first time I included the income and expense forms as they relate to my websites.
Check.
Looks like I’ve got a Profitable Personal Development Business.
Ha! I’ve reached my goal! 
It’s not anywhere near where it will be in the future, but it meets all of the criteria that I entered that day long ago.
The Lesson
While I’m not bashing my own accomplishment here, one thing that I could have done better (and have now done) is made the goal whole lot more specific – a dollar amount and a time frame are a good start.
This is pretty basic stuff (there’s really nothing new in personal development), but I’ll reiterate it here.
Get as specific as possible (the “S” in the SMART acronym) when setting your goals.
Otherwise, if your goal is to lose weight, then once you drop a pound or two you’ve achieved what you set out to do.
If your goal is to not smoke, then you’ve reached it anytime you aren’t smoking and don’t plan on having another one.
Yes, dropping a pound or two or not poisoning the air 24/7 is a good thing – but maybe we can do a little bit better.
It doesn’t have to be a lot… just a little bit better, a little bit at a time.
Just be SMART about it. (OK, that was corny… but true!)
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- Easy Creative Goal Setting
- Driving to Your Goals
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- 6 Goal-Setting Pitfalls to Avoid this Year
- The Personal Development Carnival for January 28, 2007