What are your real life experiences with S.M.A.R.T. goals?

This is not a new concept, I know, but wanted to check in with guys that have given this a sincere test-run at least for a couple of weeks and would love to hear about your experience.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

My own experience is down below.


In case you don’t know this concept, feel free to steal it and use it to your advantage. Quick description here.

• Create a smart plan with S.M.A.R.T. Goals
  
  • Specific Goal:
    “getting fit” → losing weight/gain muscle/learning a backflip
    
    
    
  • Measurable (every day):
    “waking up earlier” → getting up at 6:30 am
    
    
    
  • Attainable:
    “hitting the gym hard 6x/week!!!! Super Sayian 9000+ here I come!” → home training 3x/week
    
    
    
  • Results-focused:
    “Improving my grades” → “getting a B or higher”
    
    
    
  • Time-bound (one specific day):
    “Reading more books” → reading 10 books by the end of the year

Personally I use it in conjunction with a spreadsheet with daily entries together with a couple of buddies.

Tracking only a handful of daily activities that are the most meaningful to us.

Turns out that we stick to our goals better when we go through a process in which we first connect with our most meaningful values in life and then derive our specific goals from there. Sounds super obvious but it brings about MANY surprises. Also seems to be very necessary to refine that process regularly as our minds are filled with BS from media and expectations from peers, family, society, etc. which distract from your own values.

Also, since we make it measurable, you very much face the possibility of failure, pushing you forward on the one hand, but also making it tempting to lie or “bend the truth”. It helps to have a group of guys that can sense your bullshit and call you out on it but of course you have to be real with yourself here.

That being said, so far I have not seen a single guy have a single perfect run. Yet it’s still incredibly effective as far as I can tell.

You are making measurable progress in areas of your life that are authentically meaningful to you. Making the entire process hard but super satisfying.

What are your experiences?

 

Exactly the same idea. With the SMART goals you are still aiming to build on the first habits, creating a vast network of habits that gets you moving even towards the biggest goals. Not staying at "putting on gloves" forever haha
All while being in line with your values which is pretty cool.
Should have been clearer in my original post.