You may have heard of SMART goals. Or, if you're like me a few weeks ago, you've never heard of SMART goals.
SMART goals are
- Specific,
- Measurable,
- Achievable,
- Relevant, and
- Time-bound.
Where's the fun in that? There's no wiggle room, no opportunity to get off the beaten path! Come on SMART goals, live a little!
Okay, SMART goals might work in some cases, but when I'm tackling something new and big I like a different kind of goal. I haven't heard much talk about this, so I coined my own acronym (Did you know you can just do that??):
NOVEL goals are
- Nonspecific,
- Ongoing,
- Vague,
- Endless, and
- Lifelong
Catchy right? No? That's ok. Let me give you some examples.
Let's take exercise. I know folks who are athletically inclined, and who train with a methodical fervor I've never been able to match. For a long time it discouraged me even though I really like exercise. So I came up with a different approach: I just do some exercise most days. One year I might get really into lifting, another running, for a number of years climbing was my primary activity. I'm usually not aiming for anything specific, just 1. Keeping it interesting, and 2. Doing it on most days. That's it. I don't have an olympic medal but I've achieved some things I'm pretty proud of.
Language is another good one. You can break it down into something like "learn 25 new words a day" or "Learn 50 phrases before the big trip" but those things tend to fizzle out. I don't know about you, but I end up feeling empty when I miss a goal. And then I quit. So I came up with: Learn some Italian, see how you like it. Get a little better every day. Fluency seemed like a good goal, native speaker ("madrelingua") proficiency would be a long-term stretch goal. Then I just did some studying most days.
With the NOVEL goal in mind, I found all kinds of ways to learn the language. I found Italian meetups, I spent hours poring over books with a notebook and blank flash cards for all the vocabulary I didn't know yet. And I learned Italian! Was it quick? Heck no. I don't remember how long it took to reach basic proficiency, but that's because it stopped being important. The language was becoming part of my life, part of my routine. My fluency has faded over the years, but it always comes back with a little practice.
Maybe I'll never be the best in the world at this thing. Do I even want that? Turns out I don't. Do I even want to be recognized as being any good at at thing? Turns out I don't really care! That's not my driver. I like challenge, growth, and being in the moment, so anything that will get me more of that I'm on board with.
Where SMART goals require strategy and tactics, reaching NOVEL goals require habits. With exercise, my NOVEL goal boils down to: build habits that will keep you healthy and be sustainable for the rest of your life.
Does that mean I never push hard? No! There are times when I might spend periods training for something specific. I've trained for lifting goals or climbing competitions, and set SMART 1 goals along the way. But when I hit that goal I don't crave the next one, I tend to miss the satisfaction of a slow, steady routine. Pretty boring I guess!
There's another reason I like NOVEL goals: they allow you to blow past any initial goal you had in mind. When I set a specific goal I might feel accomplished and slow down after I hit it. I might even slow down as I approach it, like Parkinson's Law where the work expands (or in this case contracts) to fill the available time. SMART goals give you an anchor, but sometimes it can weigh you down. Without a finish line there's no anchor, just an inner voice saying "if we got here, where else can we go?"
My long-term habits are pretty underwhelming, pretty average. Exercise 20 minutes, 5 days a week. Push one commit a day. Read 30 minutes a day. Get just a little better. It's not particularly strenuous, making it more resistent to burnout. Most days it doesn't feel like much, but when I look back I'm always surprised by what I've been able to accomplish.
1: But never SMORT goals!
