SMART Goals for 2015: Are you being SMART?

Are your goals SMART? SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time- bound. In this episode, I talk a bit about my failures in 2014 and what I am going to change in 2015 to get a different result.

Of course, you can also see the video directly on YouTube if you prefer

http://youtu.be/wQXF6WT0HPU

[- – transcript follows below – -]

Folks, it is 2015. I’m fired up because the Cowboys narrowly escaped certain death at the hands of the Lions on Sunday. That was a crazy playoff game, but the Cowboys survived and that makes me happy. I’m a Cowboys fan. I’ve been living in the Dallas area for a long time now. Even though we have the goofiest owner in the entire National Football League, you can’t help but love the Cowboys if you live here in Dallas.

With 2015 upon us, last week I talked to you about the fact that you need to spend some time looking back on 2014 so you could understand what to do in 2015. More specifically, how to avoid whatever the mistakes that you made were in 2014, how to avoid repeating those in 2015.

I’ll be honest with you, my big mistake, the big thing that I take away from my experience in 2014 was a lack of consistency in the part of my business where I’m creating content for you guys. I did a really poor job. So I’m recommitting myself to that in 2015, that’s a big part of my goals. I’ll be sharing a lot of those with you in the podcast this week, which should come out on Thursday.

As part of that consistent content activity we’re going to be expecting a podcast every Thursday this year. I’m going to try to have 50 or more podcasts throughout the year. With 52 weeks in the year, we’re going to try to hit an episode almost every week, if not every week this year. That’s what you have to look forward to from me.

What I’m curious about is what you guys are up to. Have you set your goals for 2015? Are they SMART goals? Are they clearly attainable and measurable? Are they very specific? Do they have time elements in them? Do you have the kind of goals where it’s not really open for debate what the goal means, it’s really crisp and clear?

Do you have those? If not, go ahead and make another pass on your goals, tighten them up.

I keep my goals in Evernote and I just modify them as it makes sense, to make them stronger and better, and as I get more information. I don’t mean modify them to make them easier to hit, I mean modify them to make them more empowering, maybe stronger in some cases, maybe sometimes they get deleted all together. For me goals are a living document. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. As long as you have a good set of goals, there’s no problem with changing them as long as it’s in the best interest of you and your business.

I hope you’re off to a great start.

My Cowboys won and that makes me happy, and I hope it makes you happy too. If you’re a Packers fan, I want to hear from you. What do you think is going to happen on Sunday? We’ll talk soon.