{"id":121160,"date":"2020-01-08T14:30:19","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T21:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=121160"},"modified":"2021-03-16T14:57:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T20:57:53","slug":"achieve-true-success-ditch-smart-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/achieve-true-success-ditch-smart-goals","title":{"rendered":"Forget S.M.A.R.T. Goals\u2014Achieve True Success Like This"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that wonderful time of year! No, I am not talking about organizing your taxes. I am talking about the ability to set new goals.<\/p>\n

For as long as I can remember, I have used the new year to finalize my goals. I would ensure they were \u201cSMART\u201d (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Specific). I would also be sure to align them with my overall business vision and values.<\/p>\n

Every year, I would achieve most of the goals I set. So, I must be successful, right?<\/p>\n

Without getting too philosophical about the definition of success, let\u2019s just skip ahead to the finale to inform you the answer is no.<\/p>\n

(Queue the dreamy, flashback movie music.)<\/p>\n

Realizing My Goals Were Flawed<\/h2>\n

About six months ago, I attended Brandon Turner and Tarl Yarber\u2019s mastermind in Maui. Not only did I establish lifelong friendships there, but I also learned game-changing business ideas and strategies to propel my businesses and personal life.<\/p>\n

One strategy that I learned at this mastermind, I now use as a roadmap for establishing my goals.<\/p>\n

\"Pretty<\/p>\n

During one of our sessions, we were asked to describe, in detail, our perfect day. While I have had days that I thought were perfect, I had never been asked to write down what a perfect day actually is for me. By writing it down, it forced me to structure the time I spent doing specific activities during the day. Through this exercise, I realized that I have not been moving towards my perfect day, but away from it. Let me explain.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/strong> There Is a Major Problem With Your Goals<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I have always been a very competitive person. But unlike most people, I am not competitive with others\u2014just myself. In sports, I wouldn\u2019t compete against other people\u2019s records in running or statistics but instead my own times and goals.<\/p>\n

In school, I didn\u2019t care what grades my classmates received. I only cared about what I believed I could achieve. And in my work life, I constantly push myself to build bigger and better businesses.<\/p>\n

The problem is, when I look at my perfect day, it is not spent building businesses. Rather, it’s used to spend time with my family and friends and to ride my horse.<\/p>\n

Setting New Goals With Ultimate Success in Mind<\/h2>\n

Obviously I know that being able to achieve my perfect day is due in large part to having a successful business. What is not so obvious is what makes a successful business.<\/p>\n

\"investment<\/p>\n

After much thought, I have come to realize my definition of a successful business (as it relates to my goals) should not be measured by the size of the business. Instead, it should be measured by its capacity to self-operate.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/strong> How to Set (& Actually Achieve) Life-Transforming Goals<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This epiphany has had a major impact on me. Unlike previous years, this year my goal planning session did not start by writing out SMART goals. In contrast, I started with writing the definition of my perfect day.<\/p>\n

I then set a count goal for perfect days (52 for 2020, which breaks down to once a week). All of my other goals are set to not only help me achieve my goal of 52\u2014but to exceed it. And like all goals, I will be tracking my progress to ensure I hold myself accountable.<\/p>\n

The number of perfect days is a reflection of my new definition of what a successful business is to me. In the end, if I am able to achieve this goal, I will be able to finally say I am successful!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What are you goals for the new year? What’s your process of setting and sticking to them?<\/em><\/p>\n

Let’s talk below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For as long as I can remember, I have used the new year to finalize my goals. I would ensure they were \u201cSMART\u201d (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Specific). I would also align them with my overall business vision and values. Each year, I achieved most of them. So, I must be successful, right? Wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65623,"featured_media":117700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-development"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}