Setting SMART goals can help you achieve your personal and professional aspirations, but what happens when you encounter challenges and setbacks along the way? How do you stay motivated and focused on your desired outcomes? In this article, you will learn some practical strategies to overcome obstacles and keep moving forward with your SMART goals.
SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These criteria help you define your goals clearly and realistically, and track your progress and results. SMART goals can help you break down your vision into manageable steps, and align your actions with your purpose and values.
Clarity of vision and mission is key when leading others toward a goal. Using the SMART process underpins the goal by clearly defining success as well as setting accountabilities toward that success. Of all the steps of setting a SMART goal, I've found that many are tempted to skip over defining the Measurable portion. However, measurability is vital as it serves as a compass to whether a team's efforts are on track toward achieving the goal. For example, if a goal is stated to "increase followers on social media" then you would actually achieve the goal if you attained even one new follower. However, a goal of "increasing our brand's LinkedIn connections by 25% by the end of Q2" establishes a more certain marker of direction and success.
Challenges and setbacks are inevitable when you pursue any worthwhile goal. They can come from external factors, such as changes in the market, competition, or resources, or from internal factors, such as self-doubt, fear, or procrastination. Challenges and setbacks can test your resilience, commitment, and adaptability, and force you to rethink your strategies and assumptions.
In my experience our trials, setbacks and tribulations can be very powerful in the ability to redirect or pivot our direction in the future. These tests in our journey can bring us closer to our goals by allowing us to learn from both what is working for us and what is not working for us. You know better than anyone what is needed to get your business back on track and to bring you harmony, growth and success. Gentle reminder - to follow your intuition in these matters, because so many people tend to have strong opinions on how we should operate & the measures we should take for our progress, but we are all unique bio-individuals and while it is nice to get feedback from others… ultimately all the answers are within you! :)
The best way to deal with challenges and setbacks is to anticipate them and plan for them. You can do this by conducting a SWOT analysis of your goal, identifying your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You can also create a contingency plan, outlining the possible risks, scenarios, and solutions for each stage of your goal. By preparing for challenges and setbacks, you can reduce their impact and duration, and increase your confidence and readiness.
Develop a mindset that expects that things might go awry. No one had a contingency plan for a pandemic though we all had to deal with it. Aim to develop a confidence that allows you to believe that you will be able to deal with whatever comes up...not with perfection but with flexibility, resilience and creativity. One way to develop that confidence is through applying Improv practices to daily living. Take an improv course, pay attention to how the activities develop skills that can be used whenever you are faced with challenges and setbacks. These skills include staying in the moment, dealing with reality and trusting that things will work out, even if you are not sure how that can happen. That's how confidence is built.
When you face a challenge or a setback, you may feel frustrated, discouraged, or angry. These emotions are natural and valid, but they can also cloud your judgment and affect your performance. To cope with challenges and setbacks, you need to acknowledge and process your emotions, and adopt a positive and proactive mindset. You can do this by using affirmations, gratitude, meditation, or journaling, or by seeking support from a coach, mentor, or peer.
One of the things I speak about during my engagements and training session is how to deal the inevitable setbacks we will face. The first step is acknowledging that despite our best efforts, mistakes and setbacks will occur. Once it happens, and at some point it will, give yourself a set time limit to vent. For me personally, I give myself five minutes. Once I have given myself, those moments are use that same energy that frustrated me and use it to focus towards identifying the turning point where things went south. Our relationship with failure and setbacks, and our emotions associated with those moments, had a huge impact on our ability to succeed. Only by doing so will we become the best version of ourselves.
Challenges and setbacks are not failures, but opportunities to learn and grow. They can reveal your strengths and weaknesses, your gaps and needs, and your potential and possibilities. To learn from challenges and setbacks, you need to reflect on what went wrong, what went right, and what you can do differently. You can use tools such as feedback, evaluation, or review to collect and analyze data , and identify the key lessons and actions for improvement.
Sometimes, challenges and setbacks may require you to adjust your SMART goals to fit the new reality. This does not mean giving up on your vision, but adapting to the changing circumstances. To adjust your SMART goals, you need to review your criteria, and make the necessary changes to your specificity, measurability, achievability, relevance, or time-boundness. You can also use the SMARTER framework, which adds Evaluate and Re-evaluate to the original acronym.