How to Set SMART Goals That Actually Work

Welcome to the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. My name is Angela Mondor, also known as the Geeky Girl. In this podcast, we're going to be talking about some amazing things to help you get over overgiving. Hi, and welcome to this episode of the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. My name is Angela Mondor. I'm also known as the Geeky Girl in case you're new here. I want to talk to you about something that I find it's, it's really important to me. And I find that there's a lot of conversations about this. People don't really like the concept. So I just wanted to like Take your brain and smush it a little bit, maybe stretch it, you know, play with some Silly Putty. If you're old enough to remember Silly Putty, I mean, I'm sure you spent a lot of time on Sunday mornings copying the cartoons off the Silly Putty. I did anyway. I had a blast. So think about this as just a way of stretching your mind a little bit, because maybe you've heard of SMART goals before and maybe you don't think they're very smart. Maybe you think they kind of suck, and that's okay, because I'll tell you what, we all have opinions as we bring, you know, as we learn new things, we've already sort of come to our own conclusions. about what we feel about these things and how we, you know, whether we like them or we don't. So I just want you to open your mind a little bit. I use a lot of terminology that average, normal, not normal, but neurotypical people will use because the concepts of why they do it are important, but we need to twist it so that our neurodivergent brain can handle it. The reason why, you know, we watch this all the time where I see it day after day where neurodivergent Business owners are trying to do what those neurotypical people are doing, and it just doesn't work properly. And so I want to take these things, I want to twist them a little bit and help you. Now, my way isn't going to be your way. Your way is not going to be the next person's way because we're spicy. Our brains like to be a little different. And let's be honest, things are going to change from month to month, week to week, year to year, whatever the case may be, as we grow and change as individuals as well. So yes, I'm talking about SMART goals, and I'm going to change some things up here. So pay attention because it's not normal. We're spicy. Okay, so it is important for us to set goals for the business. Okay, I don't know if you agree or disagree, but I would say that anytime I have not set goals, I've not spent the time to set the goals for my business, my business has gone on trajectories that I was never in control of, right? It's the same concept that if you, if you don't know where you're going, somebody else is going to be happy to take you there because you're just going to follow. So in your business, it's important to be a leader. And in that way, you can lead yourself and your business in the direction you want to head, as opposed to just assuming that you want another person's direction. I'm sure you've heard my story before. I've told it many times. But, you know, having not had a plan, not had a goal, not having a direction I wanted to head, I allowed somebody else to take the reins of my business and totally kerfuffled it. It turned it completely upside down. I lost a ton of money, not only because of the fees I was paying the person to help me, but I also lost the business that I had been building and had to rebuild after that year. So let's be honest, if you don't mind somebody else taking the reins and telling you what to do, why aren't you working in a job? Because a J-O-B will do that all day long. They'll tell you what to do, how to do it, and they won't pay very much to make it happen. So That's one of the reasons why we're not working those jobs. We want to take control. We want to know what we're doing. We want to head in a certain direction, and we want to build the kind of life/work situation that works best for us. So we have to do this. We have to set goals. We have to set some direction on where we're heading. So let's have some fun with it. Okay? Because it can be fun. I know that sometimes it can be daunting, but I'll tell you what, when you look at it this way, maybe it'll help you feel a little bit more. Spicy fun with it. Okay, so stick with me. So number 1, when we're breaking down the SMART goal, each letter represents something. Okay, so S stands for specific. So we want our goals to be specific. We want to know what it is that we're trying to happen— trying to accomplish. You don't want to just say, I want to change the world. Okay, but how do you want to change the world? Do you want to change it for good? Do you want to change it for bad? Do you want to help children? Do you want to help homeless people? Do you want to— what do you want to do? How do you want to do this? What is specifically you want to do? Specific things are, I want to help these kinds of people. Specific is, I want to provide services through my email list. I would like to build my email list. I would like to do private one-on-one coaching, or I want to do group coaching, or whatever. You're creating a specific goal, okay? A thing that is tangible, and you can actually put tracking stuff towards it, okay? And I know that kind of could feel a little bit gross, but it's awesome and fun if you really dig into it, I promise. So you want to be able to set this specific goal so that we can take this to the next step. So we don't want to be vague in, in setting this goal because then it's going to be hard to do the rest of it. So let's pick something specific and we'll take it all the way through from top to bottom, shall we? Okay, let's talk about our email lists. A lot of us have them and there's been a lot of conversations about them over the years. So let's dive in, shall we? Okay, so a specific goal. Let's say our specific goal is that we want to increase our email list size by 500 people in the next quarter. That's a very specific goal. Okay, it's also measurable. Okay, so we need to be able to measure something to be able to say whether or not we did it or we didn't do it. Okay, so think about even the smallest thing around your house. You can say, I want to load the dishwasher. How do you know when it's done? You know it's done when all the dishes that are on the counter are now in the dishwasher because you've loaded the dishwasher. You can measure the fact that the dishes are now not on the counter, but they are in the dishwasher. Okay, so we want to be able to measure this. So our measurable thing on the example I gave you was that we're looking for 500 subscribers. Okay, so that's a measurable item. It allows us to be able to, to be to be able to see whether or not we're moving in the right direction towards this goal. Now I'm doing— I'm specifically choosing a quarterly goal. You'll see why as I move through. But taking this one step at a time, we need it to be measurable. So it is specific. We know exactly what we're doing. We're building our email list and it's measurable because we want to grow it by 500. Okay, so it was specific because we were measuring or because we were doing this one specific thing, which is grow the list, but then measure, we gave it the number. Okay, now not everything comes with a number, okay? But this one does, and it just makes it easier for your brain to be able to see it's, you know, the growth thing, okay? So it's easy for my brain. So now once we have moved past measurable, which is the M in SMART, we're going to move to the A. All right, here's where the rubber hits the road, people. Not everybody likes— well, not everybody thinks the way I do when it comes to the A. In fact, most people, it is across the globe, it is Recognized that the A means achievable. Well, pooey on that, okay? Because I don't know whether it's achievable for me to hit 500 new subscribers in a quarter. It's just my goal. That's where I would like to be. Instead, I want to make sure that goal is actionable. Okay? So, here's the difference. Being achievable means that I know it can happen. And I think that holds us back a lot from setting goals because we think if we set a goal, we have to make it happen or we've failed. Which is total buckus. If you make a goal, you take the actions towards it, and you don't hit the goal, that doesn't mean to say you failed. It simply means that the way or the actions that you took were probably maybe not the right options for you or for your clients or for the particular task at hand. But you did put in the effort, and I think that that's the most important part. We need to honor the actions that we take, and the actions are the things that matter, not did we pass or did we fail, because that's just bull— Shit, let's be honest. Okay, so actionable. When we start thinking about actionable, now we— this is a piece where we want to break down the goal. Okay, so we're going to take— it's actionable because we can take actions in order to grow that list to 500. Okay, so when we take that SMART goal that we've built, we can then take the actionable part and choose which actions we're going to take in order to make it happen. All right, so this isn't about is this goal achievable or is it not achievable based on your personal experience or based on somebody else told you it should be available to be done. This is can I take actions to work towards getting that goal? If the answer is yes, then yay, we're on point. Okay, don't worry about whether or not you win or lose, pass or fail. That stuff is all erased. All I want you to care about is the actions you take on a regular basis. Okay, now regular, we'll get into that. Doesn't matter. The next one, which is the R, is relevant. So is this relevant to your overall yearly goals? Is it relevant to your business? Now, if you're a business who works solely in person inside your city or town and you've never emailed them before, you have never— you don't have any intentions of ever emailing anybody, and you have no intentions of ever updating anybody about what's going on in your business through email or selling anything through email, it wouldn't be very relevant. You'd be choosing this goal because somebody said you should. Somebody's shoulding all over you. Okay. However, if you're writing this goal because you are emailing people, you do have a global or online business, or you do want to update subscribers about what's happening inside your business, or perhaps you do use your email list to make money, then it is relevant to what you're doing inside your business. Okay. So The relevance is important. If you're trying to do something inside your business and you think, why am I doing this? I don't— it doesn't even make sense. It doesn't connect to what I'm doing. It's not relevant. And so let it go. It's maybe not for you. And that's okay. Just because it works for Sally Jane or Sam or whoever else doesn't matter if it's not relevant to your business and the goals and the trajectory you want to take your business. Doesn't matter. Okay. So make sure that it's relevant to your specific needs inside your business and where you want to head. And T is time-bound. Remember I said we were going to do this in 3 months? Okay, so it was a quarter's worth of time. Why is this important? Because we can put bookends on things. We can say, you know what, I'm going to do this for a certain length of time and see whether or not things are working properly or not in terms of accomplishing this goal. It allows you to pivot, to redirect. It allows you to reassess. I think it's really important. Our businesses generally work on a 90-day cycle. I don't know, it's a universe thing. Don't ask me why it works this way, but it does. And it's not surprising, we've been using quarters forever. But what you do in your business today generally shows up in your business 90 days later. It's a really interesting phenomenon. I've seen it with every business that I've had communication with that I've helped. Any business owner, it's just true. It's like what we do today There it is, 3 months later, it's showing up. So that's why I like to use the quarter methodology when I'm talking about this. It's not a huge goal. It's not like a yearly goal. We're talking about how much money we want to make over the next year and blah, blah, blah. Like, that's a big goal. Our quarterly goals allow us to be able to do something for a shorter period of time, but then also give us the time to reflect through it. While you are doing this, now you've created the goal. Right? We're going to— over the next quarter, we're going to grow our email list by 500. Okay, that is the goal. And now we need to take that and break it out so that we know what action steps we need to take, so that we know which way we need to head. What are those action steps? Then, as you apply those action steps each month, you can check in and say, okay, did I take the steps? Ask the question, did I do the work? Yes or no? Yes, I did the work. Fantastic. Did I get results I was looking for? Yes or no? Now, this isn't about you. Okay? None of this is about you. It isn't whether you're a good person or a bad person, a good entrepreneur or a bad entrepreneur. Throw that crap out the window. Well, all we're talking about is did I take the action? Yes or no? If I did take the action, fantastic. I took the action. Did I get the results I was looking for? Am I moving towards my goal? Yes or no? If the answer is no and you took your actions, now it's time to pivot and look which actions did I take? Which ones were most effective and which ones can I change? What's another way that I can do this, right? So if your first, first thought was, oh, I'm going to be on somebody's summit and that's how I'm going to grow my email list, but then you couldn't find a summit that you could be part of, you took the action because you tried to find this summit, but you weren't able to get on a summit. Maybe that's not a fast way to do it and maybe you need to find a different way to do it. So always think about not just did I achieve it or didn't I, but what are the steps I took And, you know, then do they— were they the right or wrong ones? Now let's go on the other side. Let's say the answer is no, I didn't take the steps. Question is, why not? Not because you're bad or awful, or not because you suck, but why didn't you take them? One of the answers could be you're overwhelmed with too many other things. You've got way too many things on your plate, and this just wasn't as important as you thought it was going to be. That's a perfectly good answer. That means that either you have things on your plate that need to be taken off your plate so that you can focus on this goal, Or it really wasn't as important as you thought it was. It needs to be put on the back burner, and there are other things that you can deal with right now. Okay, another reason why maybe you didn't take the action is because maybe you didn't like the action. Maybe you thought, oh, getting on a summit is the answer, and I need to do that. But every time you saw a summit application and you went to apply for it, you're like, I don't want to do that. That's not how I want to do things. That's not— I don't— that doesn't feel good to me. Please listen to yourself. Okay, that isn't a slight on you, or that's not you're a bad person, or you're not good at what you do. Instead, take that knowledge and go, okay, that's not the path for me. How else can I build my email list, and what am I going to try next month? Okay, see where I'm going with this? This isn't about whether or not you're good or bad. It's simply about creating this SMART goal, then being able to dissect it and pull it apart so that you can build something that you love. Because it would suck for you to do summits all year long if they drained you and you Hated it. But it would be beautiful if you love joining freebie bundles, or if you love joining, you know, there's all kinds of other things to do. So many different things that you can do to grow your email list. But in that case, maybe creating your own freebies, maybe creating landing pages, whatever, whatever, whatever floats your boat. Try something different and find out what you like. And that's the important part here. When we talk about being neurodivergent, it isn't about being, I can't be successful. It's simply, how can I be successful? Right? Because you can be successful just like anybody else. But let's work with your brain. Let's find out what works best for you. That's what's really important. These are the things that are pitfalls to us. Uh, feeling like maybe we don't fit in, or feeling like the rejection sensitivity piece is— can be very difficult with neurodivergent brains. Instead of looking at it as, I didn't hit the goal. You can simply say the business, change it. Okay. Don't take on the business as your next personality. I mean, that's just a disaster waiting to happen. But you can say, you know, the business, in the business, we, we have this goal and here's where we're going with it. And in the business, these are the actions we took and those didn't work. Try to take the emotion out of it. Try to take that, that, try not to take it on as your own other personality and try not to be a split personality with that. It's all good. So here's what I want. I hope that I got you to see things a little differently when it comes to SMART goals, that you get to see that maybe they could be fun, or that, you know, maybe we could lend some different ways of seeing information that you're creating inside your business. Take your business in a direction you actually want to go. Make sure that you always, always follow the— I like following this acronym, but we'll try it anyway, right? So make sure you have a specific goal. Make sure you can measure it. Make sure you can take actions toward making it happen. Make sure it's relevant to you, your business, and the direction you want to head, and make sure it's time-bound so that you can actually put a period at the end of that when you get to it. That doesn't mean to say that the next quarter you might say, you know what, that worked so well, I did 300, I added 300 people to my list. That's fantastic. Next quarter I'm going to try to do the 500 again. You know, keep moving, and your goals matter to you. Maybe you only want to add 10 people to your list. Maybe you want to make $1,000 a month. Maybe you want to make $100,000 a month. Those things don't matter to anybody but you because your goals matter. And regardless of how big or how small those goals are, you can make a difference in your life and your business by creating these goals for yourself and gain confidence in the fact that you can actually achieve these things. See, the A comes later. We achieve them actually after we do all those things. I hope you have a fantastic day, and I look forward to talking to you next time. Bye for now. Thank you so much for listening to the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. Your support means the world to me. You can find show notes for this episode and other goodies at overgiversanonymous.ca. 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