When SMART is Dumb
“Read 3 business books on my reading list, to help me be a better boss, by July 1st” is a SMART goal. It’s specific, measurable, attainable, results orientated, and time-limited.
This is how many of us have been taught to structure our goals. Simply write them down using this framework and viola! You’ve done everything you can to set yourself up for success.
I’ve used this approach over the years with mixed results. Sometimes I achieve an ambitious goal with relative ease. While other goals that seemed simple at first, were quickly neglected and abandoned.
I found that setting clear goals using a SMART framework was a helpful tool, but it wasn’t a difference maker.
Then I read an article, written by author James Clear, which forced me to completely rethink how I approach goal setting. It taught me that achieving positive change has a lot less to do with clarifying and tracking your goals on paper, and a lot more to do with designing systems that encourage the right behaviors.
Goals Vs Systems
No matter what we aim to achieve in life, defining a specific and actionable goal is only a small fraction of the equation. Rather, the system you design in support of that goal is the dominant variable.
This isn’t to say that goals are not important. They are.
The key difference is recognizing that goals cannot exist alone. Goals should serve the purpose of helping us determine what kinds of systems we need to create.
James Clear uses a great analogy of rudders and oars when he describes the relationship between goals and systems.
Your goals are like the rudder of a boat. They set the direction for where you want to go. Whereas your systems act as the oars. It’s systems that propel you forward and determine your progress.
If you’re a dentist, your goal for 2019 might be to increase the amount of new patient revenue by 20%. To have a chance at reaching your goal, you may need to focus on a system that is a marketing process or on a system that helps you with explanations of treatment plans that will improve patient case acceptance.
Design a Better System
Insanity is sometimes described as doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.
We can’t set a new goal and hope to achieve it without giving careful consideration to the things we plan to do differently.
Change is difficult. It’s the reason why my New Year’s resolution last year to lose weight flamed out after the first month. I wasn’t accustomed to going to the gym. Running on the treadmill was never part of of my normal routine and I didn’t design a system that made it any easier.
So, I give up and supplement my diet with excuses.
How about you? Do you have a story of desiring to make a change in your life? We all do. What if we could make more purposeful changes in our lives? What difference could it make in our business, our relationships, our world?
Setting Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Result orientated, and Time-limited goals is a very good exercise. But without a work-out system to support your desired change we are less likely to achieve the results we desire.
Designing a better system means asking the hard questions of what things we’re going to do differently. What pain are we willing to endure to gain the results we desire? It means being less focused on the score – am I accomplishing my goal? And being more disciplined on executing the tasks that increase the probability of success.
If you want to see 20% more new patients next year, then what new activities will you implement and measure to generate the new business? Complement your goals with a work-out system.
Success comes through continuous improvement. My trainer at 4G Athletic says, “I know it doesn’t feel good now, but today you will walk out of here stronger”. Good systems reinforce positive behavior. Over time these systems move us towards achieving our long term goals.
Learn from a King
Stephen King has published 57 bestselling novels and sold over 350 million copies of his books worldwide. King might have a goal to publish his 58th best-selling novel, but that alone won’t make words appear on the page.
Instead, Stephen King follows a system for writing nearly 2,000 words every day. He keeps a strict schedule and does everything he can to reinforce a consistent system that over time has helped him improve his prose and storytelling.
Goal setting is necessary for clarifying where we want to go, but it’s not going to get us to our destination. We need to put in the work. We need to design a system that makes rowing the oars easier.
The problem we want to avoid is obsessing over goals for next year while neglecting to design the system that will take us across the finish line.
What goals do you have for your practice in 2019? What systems are you going to change to support that initiative?
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