I'm SMART Goals
I'm SMART Goals are
Inherently Motivating: Ideally, a goal should motivate even when standing alone, without referencing other goals or adding other rewards. Because broad goals are unwieldy, they're rarely inherently motivating.
Specific: A goal should be clear and concise. Broad goals are general—the opposite of specific.
Measurable: A goal should be quantifiable or qualifiable. Set a broad goal, and it's tough to tell when (or whether) you're making progress. You might believe you are, but how do you know?
Actionable: A goal should be one you can either work on directly or break down into smaller "action steps." With broad goals, the question "How do I even begin?" crops up repeatedly; broad goals aren't very actionable.
Realistic: A goal should be within a learner's reach. Mastering calculus might be a good goal for a kindergartner… eventually. Now, since the kindergartner must first master arithmetic, she'd be best off focusing there. Other broad goals are realistic, yet they don't get accomplished since the path to them is so difficult to discern.
Time-Surviving: The fruits of achieving a goal should, ideally, endure with minimal continued vigilance. Sometimes, this isn't possible. With clear, concise goals, however, since it's easier to see when a goal has been accomplished, it's easier to rest in each goal's completion. With clear, concise goals, it's also easier to know how to respond if specific achievements start to slip.
Few of us would ever strike up a conversation, even with a friend, by beginning with a reference to "spiritual health," "psychological well-being," or "professional aspirations." Broad categories, which we don't think about naturally and easily, provide little real-life motivation. They don't affirm "I'm SMART," and they don't help us chart a course toward wholeness. With just a little practice, thinking of the 18 Paired Abilities of the Integral Learning Model comes naturally and easily, and setting I'm SMART Goals based on those distinctions provides real-life motivation with clear records of progress.
Limits of I'm SMART Goals
I'm SMART Goals can powerfully enhance some kinds of learning, but they're not always appropriate. Not all learning or thinking has an immediately recognizable use, and for some learning—including the relaxed, "putting things together" that can occur in daydreams—setting goals is profoundly inappropriate. We don't train this kind of learning; we explore it, and trying to rush it is like trying to rush sleep. Can you imagine saying, "I only have time for half a night's sleep, so I'm going to try to get a full night's sleep in the four hours I have"? It just doesn't work that way.
Some things take time to naturally unfold. Exploring, perceiving, dreaming, and imagining, among other modes of thinking, simply can't be rushed or rigorously trained without diminishing their effectivness, since they require unstructured time for learners to probe conections, mulling over ways that what they've been experiencing relates to what they remember learning before. For more information on problems with over-structuring learning, click here, or close this window to return to the page you were reading.