avatarPete Williams

Summary

The author argues that the SMART goal-setting methodology is flawed and often leads to disappointment.

Abstract

The author critiques the SMART goal-setting methodology, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound. They argue that while it may seem credible and well-explained, it is not applicable to many worthwhile goals. The author provides several examples to illustrate this point, such as getting a promotion at work or fixing a relationship. They argue that these goals are often not quantifiable or easily executed, and that the SMART methodology can lead to disappointment and a lack of flexibility. The author also suggests that setting huge goals can lead to unhappiness if the goal is achieved, as it may not bring the expected satisfaction. They recommend asking oneself why a goal is important before setting it.

Bullet points

  • The author critiques the SMART goal-setting methodology.
  • SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound.
  • The author argues that many worthwhile goals are not quantifiable or easily executed.
  • The author provides examples such as getting a promotion at work or fixing a relationship.
  • The author suggests that the SMART methodology can lead to disappointment and a lack of flexibility.
  • The author argues that setting huge goals can lead to unhappiness if the goal is achieved.
  • The author recommends asking oneself why a goal is important before setting it.
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SMART Goal Setting is Bullshit

There’s a gaping flaw that no one seems to have noticed

If there is one thing I’ve heard constantly during my time in the corporate world, it’s the insistence that you have to set SMART goals. They’re held up as the be all and end all of individual development, because the acronym and explanation behind it seem so credible and well explained that there couldn’t possibly an argument against using it.

For those that don’t know, SMART goal setting is about using the acronym to test your goal and ensure it’s clear enough that it can be achieved. It stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Timebound

It looks legit AF doesn’t it? Of course as things usually go, trends like this that get a lot of play in the corporate world eventually seep into the real world, so you’ll find the usual life hacking guru types espousing the practice as well. The thing is, I had a recent epiphany on this subject, and the more I think about it the more I realise that the entire premise of SMART goal setting is just more corporate bullshit, and here’s why.

Almost nothing that’s really worth achieving can be quantified and executed so easily.

Let’s get into this with a couple of examples so you see where I’m coming from.

Promotion at work

You really want to move up in the world, so you sit down with your boss and get a SMART plan together. The implication is that if you can tick all of these off the list that you’ll get that promotion because you’ve proven your worth. That’s all well and good, but what happens if:

  • The company loses a major account or the budget just isn’t there?
  • Your boss is replaced halfway through the year?
  • Those assignments you were given get deprioritised for something else?

Those are just 3 very possible things that can happen. The corporate world is constantly moving and there are no guarantees. So you’ve set your SMART plan and the end of the year has rolled around and you’ve been informed the promotion isn’t happening — even though you’ve achieved what you were expected to. Now you’re really fucked. You’re fucked because you’ve backed yourself into a corner. Either you now have to leave and find another job, or stay where you are, because the company knows that you’ll hang around even when you have a deal broken on you.

Don’t feel so SMART now huh?

Setting a SMART plan like this isn’t a huge deal if you’re prepared for the fact that it might not work out and you’re either ready to get another job or pivot to something else. How many people actually make that contingency plan though?

I’d wager not many.

Fixing a relationship

Maybe you’ve had a falling out with a friend or family member. Maybe you realise as a parent you’ve been too checked out and you have to do better with your kids. Or maybe it’s not about fixing, maybe you just want to be closer with your wife.

Do you honestly think that you can set some kind of timetable with measurable objectives for this?

People are messy, and relationships take as long as they take. You may have to put in far more effort than you realised for longer than expected. You may have to confront emotional issues you didn’t expect, or have conversations that are difficult and don’t fit into any kind of plan, because you can’t be in the other person’s head and know everything that needs to happen.

Further, there isn’t some table with points for different activities or acts of selflessness in relationships. You can’t just break it down into chunks like “if I do this, and this, and this, the relationship will be where I want it to be.” You saddle up knowing that the fight is worth fighting and that you’re in it for the long haul.

That big achievement

It could be making first chair in an orchestra, getting that place in a prestigious MBA program, publishing a book, winning a national championship in your chosen sport. Anything along those lines. The reality is that you can’t control the outcome on any of those achievements.

Let’s take the orchestra example. You can go by the SMART methodology and determine that you’ll practice two hours every day, get coaching once a week, and attend every single tryout that the orchestra hosts, after which, you’ll review it with your coach for next time. Ok, so all of those are discrete, concrete actions that fit within the SMART framework.

So that will mean you make it to first chair of your orchestra, right?

Well of course not. The person that gets first chair in an orchestra doesn’t get it because they set SMART goals. They get it because they’re so obsessive about music that they’ll play until their fingers bleed and they’re falling asleep on their cello. They don’t need to set goals, because their entire being is going after it anyway. If anything, they need goals to ensure they don’t overextend themselves.

Let’s get real here

The biggest problem with SMART methodology is that it makes any overarching goal seem as though it’s a foregone conclusion. The idea is that you can take any large goal and continually break it down in enough small chunks that any one of those is achievable.

That’s not how it freaking works. The world is full of friction, and you never know how or when the world is going to throw that friction into your neat little equation. The friction could be so small that it’s just a minor annoyance, or it could be significant enough that it totally derails everything for you. From what I’ve seen, the people that either accomplish their big goals or get close to it don’t plan so minutely, they just throw as much of themselves at it as they possibly can.

If a goal is so easy to achieve that you really can break it down into a bunch of smaller parts, then it’s really not that hard is it? Literally the only reason I can think of to set SMART goals, especially in business, is to keep you firmly on task and ensure scope creep doesn’t happen.

There’s a problem not just with SMART goals, but goals in general

So we’ve identified a couple of problems with the SMART framework:

  • Circumstances change, rendering it invalid
  • Quantifying what it will take to hit an overarching goal is actually really difficult
  • It often over-intellectualises goals that require raw passion and immense dedication, rather than meticulous planning

But there’s an even greater problem in setting huge goals for ourselves.

We may actually succeed.

Just ask all those people who make partner at a law firm at a young age, or reach the top in one of the Big 4 accounting firms. Consulting is notorious for it as well. Ambitious young people who flitter away their youth working to meet the timetable they set for a certain title, before realising that achieving it has made them miserable.

Just look at George Clooney’s character in Up In The Air. He mentions multiple times in the movie that he’s aiming for 10 million miles with his airline so he can get the coveted metallic card and be in a special club. He’s even calculated it down to the number of flights he has to take and where. When it actually happens, he’s not happy, because he realised it was a really stupid goal and he’s wasted his life away travelling all the time.

So many of the goals I’ve set have been because I desired attention and praise for my work. Being someone who is highly focused (focus is my #3 Gallup strength, in case you’re wondering), I can spend a year on something, working every single day until it’s completed. It’s only a couple of years after the fact that I look back and wonder why it was such a big deal for me.

With most of them, I still don’t know. The goals I achieved didn’t make me any happier, and apart from a short term slump, the failures didn’t make me any sadder.

I’m certainly not saying that you shouldn’t have goals. But before you actually start setting these huge, ambitious targets with a SMART plan that quantifies it down to monthly, weekly, daily and hourly activities I’d first ask myself a serious question: why is this important to me?

You want that raise? Why?

You want that promotion? Why?

You want that big achievement? Why?

You want to complete that book? Why?

Want to make a million before 30? Why?

If you can’t answer that question, well, it may not be worth setting the goal in the first place.

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