Goals should be SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound), right? But what if SMART goals aren’t actually that smart? Organizations love the SMART framework because it forces people to set goals that are measurable. SMART makes it easy to measure progress – either you completed the goal, or… not.

Recently, I encountered an interesting distinction between outcome goals and process goals. Outcome goals measure an end-point. They tend to be large and long-term. Progress is easy to monitor because the measuring stick is a simple pass-fail. Organizations love outcome goals.

In contrast, process goals are more about ongoing habits – the small, regular commitments required for behaviour change. It’s harder to measure progress because there isn’t a clear end-point, but process goals often leave to more lasting change and personal improvement.

The next time you’re writing your goals, try translating your outcome goals into process goals. You’ll improve your habits and you might even accomplish your outcomes goals in the end. The Goal Check worksheet gives you the opportunity to reflect the types of goals you’ve set for yourself – and your motivation for achieving those goals.

Goal Check Worksheet (1.2 MB)

Copyright, Use and Distribution

This worksheet is part of our Worksheet Wednesdays experiment. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to copy and redistribute this worksheet. You can remix it or adapt it to your purposes, providing you share your revised version too. If you use this worksheet, please attribute Thirdway Think and link to thirdwaythink.com

Source of Inspiration

Markman, A. (2015). Smart Change. Los Angeles: TarcherPerigee.