Why I Hate S.M.A.R.T Goals and What to Do Instead

[@shanerabideau5910]

I like this perspective and always healthy to have many! I can see use cases for both S.M.A.R.T. and not smart. For life, not having smart goals is probably ok. For running a business or NGO, you kinda need to still have those SMART goals in there especially when it comes to strategy and business operations.

[@LearnGrantWriting]

Agree but even those timelines we have softened and we absolutely slay the amount of work we get done. We now have 3 "seasons" a year instead of 4 quarters. We pick 3 "rocks" which are 2 maintenance projects and 1 new project per department (there are 3 departments). It works. Forces prioritization. But it's gentler. Like we won't announce Season 1 until late January to allow clean up from 2024 in the new year. We think there is still a way to plan with structure that still allows for removed attachment to the outcomes.

[@rickusjansenvanvuuren5032]

Very insightful, and helpful, thank you!

[@LearnGrantWriting]

You're welcome. I'm glad that you found this helpful.

[@srabonx]

Good video editing! Carry on!

[@LearnGrantWriting]

Thanks!

[@erik8]

The editing on this video is so good! How do you track your PLAY goals over time? Do you ever get to a point where you abandon a goal?

[@LearnGrantWriting]

I totally abandon goals from time to time but what I discover is that the goal was more a 'nice to have' but not true to my personal life vision. Holding goals lightly is the real key here and that means being okay with things changing. It's okay to change your mind about your goals!

[@EdwardHooomalu]

Great video. Love the energy and passion. Spot on! SMART goals are an industrial age model. It is very rooted in production capability and capacity. Out of curiosity, how do you balance the possible with the predictable? I'm thinking along the lines of I want a house of chutes and ladders (possible), then breaking that into smaller tasks/ goals that are more predictable in nature (hire someone to develop a blueprint, higher a construction, company, coding permits, etc.)

[@LearnGrantWriting]

Great question. I do not take every goal in the field of possibility and try to break it down into actionable steps. There is 'trust' involved that getting to the outcome could happen in a number of ways that I can't even imagine. For example, we knew we wanted a bigger backcountry airplane (sounds fancy but in Alaska it's like a flying pick up truck as we don't have many roads). I thought we'd wait a few years and then eventually start looking around. Well, amazingly, my husband found a deal where a guy wanted to trade his Maule for a Super Cub so we were able to get into a 6-seat, faster airplane at NO COST because we traded straight across. So, to answer the question of how to balance possible with predictable...I tend to have goals in each of those fields 50/50.