It’s been a month since I moved to Florida to pursue golf. While I had goals, they were not good goals. I look back on November and can’t say whether or not is was a success, even though I definitely made progress.  I didn’t have “November” goals. 30 days have passed, and even though I was very intentional with all of my time and practice, I could have been a lot better about evaluating my success.

I will change this in December by having SMART goals, writing them down, and sharing them with others.

What are your goals for December?

Before you continue reading, try writing down your December goals. Did you already have a list? Was it easy? Has thinking about them caused you to think about what you should be doing to attain those goals? That’s the point!

SMART Goals

Goals push you. They exist to prevent you from becoming complacent. They help you schedule and prioritize tasks and activities, and keep your foot on the gas pedal. Without good goals it’s easier to spend your time inefficiently, procrastinate, and ultimately not do what you set out to do. Try to have SMART goals, which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-sensitive.

Specific

If you want to be more productive with your mornings, you might want to wake up earlier. But that is not specific. If you wake up at 5 am, it’s early. But what about 7:30 am, or 8:30 am? Is that early? Without a specific goal, it’s impossible to evaluate yourself. To make this one specific it should be something like “wake up by 7 am every morning.”

Measurable

Can the goal be objectively measured? There should be no debate if the goal was achieved or not. An example could be “go to the gym 3 days this week for at least 30 minutes.” When the week is over you can count to see if you achieved that goal.

Attainable

The goal should be reasonable. It shouldn’t be easy, but it shouldn’t be something like “win the lottery.” Yes, there’s a chance, but not really. They exist to stretch and make you better. If you’re looking for a new job it would be more reasonable to have a goal of “apply to 15 jobs this weekend” rather than “find and start a new job by next week.”

Relevant

This one might seem more obvious than the others but it’s still important. It ensures you spend your time making progress toward what you are trying to achieve. If you want to lose weight, eating 2 vegetarian meals each day would be relevant, but finishing this season of The Voice would not.

Time-sensitive

This is a deadline. The goal has to be achieved within a certain time period. Without a deadline, there’s less urgency to take action to accomplish the goal. Setting a deadline provides the structure to actually do whatever it is you want to do. While a deadline could be a date, it could also be an action. If you’ve ever told yourself “you can go out with your friends after you finish this project,” that is a time-sensitive and effective goal.

Write down your goals

Keep a notebook, google doc, or even the back of a used envelope to actually write down your goals. If you write them down, you are more likely to achieve them. Once you write them down, they are set. You will feel worse about adjusting them if you are momentarily lazy or unmotivated. If goals are only in your head, did they even really exist?

Make your goals known

If you are the only person who knows your goals, it’s easier to forget them, make them easier, or sabotage yourself in another way. If you make your goals known, now you have some outside accountability. You will also have people rooting for you. Yes, others will know if you fail, but you are MUCH more likely to accomplish your goals if you tell other people. And you can’t be afraid of failing!

I’ve been talking about leaving Accenture to go to a startup, travel, or start my own business for YEARS. Life was good and I wasn’t working hard enough to make a real change. I realized that I needed to set a deadline and tell some people. It would force myself to take action.

Back in the spring of this year (2018), I decided my last day at Accenture would be November 1. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after November 1, but telling people this date lit a fire under my seat and I ended up leaving work a month before my self-imposed deadline. Now I’m on this great journey.

Michelle and I try to share our weekly and monthly goals with each other. Getting a significant other, friend, or sibling to do it with you definitely makes it easier!

There have been some (weak) studies showing that publicizing a goal can actually make you LESS likely to achieve it. I think that as long as you know that TALKING about goals isn’t making PROGRESS towards them, it can be a very effective way to have accountability and even get help from others.

My December goals

I try to practice what I preach so here it goes. My December goals are:

• Get at least 2 eagles
• Average at least 2 birdies each round
• Average less than 1 double bogey each round
• Average score of less than 5 on par 5s
• Average under 33 putts per round
• Break 80 3 times
• Scoring average below 81
• Lower handicap to 6.8
• Do yoga 3 days each week
• Post at least once each week on the blog