How to Turn Your Goal Into a Plan
Sep 22, 2024
So you've set some goals this year.
Let's say you want to get an A in a specific class. You want to pass the APUSH exam. You want to repair a friendship that is broken or breaking. You want to make some new friends. You want to join some kind of leadership position or take on some kind of leadership role. You want to begin your personal essay for your college applications now, instead of waiting until November.
Great goals, all of them, but -- a goal without a plan is just a wish.
I love that line from that French novel The Little Prince: "A goal without a plan is just a wish."
The question is how? "How do you back a well-intentioned goal with a solid plan so that you can do everything possible to achieve your goal?"
That's the topic of this post for students like you who are trying to lead yourself and your life well so that you can lead others well.
The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Framework
So let's jump into the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goal-setting framework. This framework is from the book Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt, and I am going to quickly walk you through each letter of the acronym S.M.A.R.T.E.R. to tell you how you can put a good plan into place to achieve your goals.
S: Specific
The S in S.M.A.R.T.E.R. is for specific.
Let's say your goal is to make more friends this year. Great goal, but too vague, too general.
Where do you want to make these friends? There are friends at school; there are friends at church; there are friends on your sports team, in your orchestra, band, choir, neighborhood. There are so many different options for making more friends.
Where are you going to focus your efforts? The S forces you to focus. Where are you going to direct your efforts this year?
If you think of the bullseye of a target, the bullseye is what you're aiming for. That's where you are going to point your arrow and shoot. If you don't have a narrow-enough, focused goal, then you're just going to shoot arrows into the air--talk to anybody and everybody everywhere and hope that one or two of them are going to become actual friends. That might happen, but a more intentional, personal-led effort is to choose the place that you want to start.
Maybe your goal is to improve your grades or raise your GPA. Good goals, too vague. Ask yourself, "Which classes do I want to focus on? Which classes do I want to focus my academic efforts this year?" If you can get specific, then your mind and your attention aim at those specific classes, and you will be more conscientious in those classes.
M: Measurable
The M in S.M.A.R.T.E.R. is for measurable. This challenges you to put some metrics in the plan as you work toward your goal.
What this looks like is making your goal quantifiable so that you can track your progress as you work toward your goal. For example, "I will make friends at school" becomes "I will make two friends this semester at school." "I will improve my grades" becomes "I will raise my B plus to an A- in Spanish 2." If your goal is to spend more time with God, make it more measurable: "I will read my Bible three days a week." You see how that is much more aimable than "I will spend more time with God."
A: Actionable
The A in S.M.A.R.T.E.R. is for actionable. This one's really important because action is everything when it comes to achieving a goal. You're going to have to take action.
When you're making your goal S.M.A.R.T.E.R., pick some concrete action verbs. Pick words that you can actually act on. So "I will make two friends at school" becomes "I will talk to two friends at lunch" or "I will text two friends after school." Talk and text are action verbs. They are something you can do.
The goal of spending more time with God becomes "I will read one chapter of the book of John every day" or "I will pray three times a week before bed" or "I will go to youth group once a month."
Action verbs challenge you to make sure that you are actually doing what you said you want to do. If you don't make your goal actionable, then it's always going to just stay in the realm of an idea--something you're thinking about, something you're talking about, but you're not actually doing. And that is not going to get you anywhere.
Now, one thing that is super important about these actions that you take toward a goal is to make sure that they are easy -- tiny, simple, and quick. Because what happens if they are not easy and simple and quick is overwhelm. And when you feel overwhelmed, you don't do the action, and you're prone to get stuck.
James Clear in his book Atomic Habits says to take "one-percent actions" on a consistent basis. When it comes to goal-setting and habit-building, you have to stay consistent. Consistency is more important and more efficient than intensity. If you get too intense too early in the process, what happens is most people burn out. You want to pace yourself. You want to incrementally increase the tiny actions in the process.
So, what starts off as "text one person once a week" becomes "text that person twice a week" and then three times a week and then four times a week. The example of spending more time with God can start as reading two verses two days a week, and then reading four verses two days a week and then six verses two days a week. Or you can increase the number of days: "I will read two verses three times a week" and then two verses four times a week, and then two verses five times a week." The idea is to pace yourself and increase your actions incrementally and not to go too hard too fast so you won't burn out.
One idea that I found very helpful is that when you're achieving a goal, you're really building the habits that will result in that goal. Habit-building is foundational to goal-setting. When you want to get an A in APUSH, that means you have to build the habits of reading, reviewing the notes, and creating notes for that class. Those are all concrete actions that will lead to an improved grade.
A friendship is accomplished one action at a time--one conversation, one text, one meal, one social gathering at a time. Those actions -- those habits of investing time and taking initiative to connect -- will result in the ultimate goal of making a new friend, or keeping a friend.
The goal of having a deeper relationship with God is accomplished with one prayer, one devotional, one church attendance at a time. Those compounded over time will result in a deeper understanding of God and therefore a deeper relationship with God and love for God.
R: Risky
The R in S.M.A.R.T.E.R. is for risky. (In S.M.A.R.T. goals, the R is for relevant, but that R will be at the end of S.M.A.R.T.E.R.)
A good goal will both pull you toward it and push you out of your comfort zone. (That's not from Michael Hyatt; that's something I came up with.) Does your goal both pull you toward it and push you uncomfortably out of your comfort zone? If it does, then this is a goal that once achieved is actually going to be worthwhile.
A risky goal will challenge your limiting beliefs about yourself. A limiting belief is a negative mindset that challenges what you are capable of doing, and so a risky goal is going to almost force you to believe in yourself and challenge you to believe in yourself.
What is this goal risking? What might this goal cost you? Why is it risky?
For example, what's risky about making new friends? Why is making new friends a good and risky goal? Because you're taking the risk of rejection. You're taking the risk of putting yourself in an awkward and uncomfortable situation of having to initiate or carry on a conversation. In the end, it may not result in a friendship. You might feel judged. You might feel criticized. You might just feel a sense of regret that maybe you humiliated yourself. Those are all good and healthy risks that you can afford to take. None of those risks are going to ruin you. None of those risks are going to kill you. But the thought of having to initiate a conversation with somebody you don't know and not be able to anticipate where that conversation is going and stay in that conversation and maybe at the end of it, not even result in a friendship or even an acquaintanceship, that's risky.
What is risky about spending more time with God? It can feel to some people that when you aren't able to pray easily or comfortably, when you're reading the Bible and you have no idea what you just read or what it means, you can feel like your a fake Christian. You may feel that Christianity is beyond you, that you don't have what it takes to be a follower of Jesus Christ. You might think, "Christianity is for other people; it's not for me." Those are risky thoughts because it could cause you to give up and say, "I guess Christianity is not for me because I can't even spend five minutes with God. How am I going to spend a lifetime with God?"
I hope R makes you excited. R is encouraging you to do something that could fail. It's encouraging you to choose a goal that you need God for achieving. A good goal should cause you to pray. A good goal should cause you to go to Jesus to ask for help, and to rely on Him for strength.
As you know in goal-setting, there's a lot of frustration, there's a lot of struggle, and there's failure on the way to achieving a goal. The trick is not to give up. You must depend on God, then get back up, persevere, and see every day as another chance to take the action to get what you want.
T: Time-Keyed and Triggered.
T in S.M.A.R.T.E.R. stands for time-keyed and triggered. Time-keyed: by when do you want to achieve this goal? The students in my mastermind are using the end of first semester or December 31st as our deadline; that is the time frame that we are giving ourselves to accomplish the goal that they have set. You need to set a deadline so that you're not working on your goal and building those habits forever.
The T for Triggered is very helpful because when you're taking those tiny 1% actions toward your goal, you want to put into place reminders, or triggers, that will jog your action-taking muscles and get you to do what you identified in "A" - ACTIONS.
Trigger Example #1: The Lunch Bell
One example of a good trigger is the lunch bell at school. If you're trying to make new friends, the lunch bell means it's time to go talk to somebody. It's time to start a conversation. It's time to step out of my comfort zone and go meet somebody.
Trigger Example #2: Your Phone
Another trigger could be your phone alarm. You can set your alarm to remind you what you need to do at that time.
One of my students is trying to practice her instruments during the week, but also on the weekend. She could, for example, set her phone alarm on Saturday afternoon to remind her to practice the piano.
Trigger Example #3: Post-It Note
Another effective trigger is to use a post-it note, which I personally love. Use a post-it note and literally write: "Do devotional." This could be on the kitchen table during breakfast. You see that note. You put your devotional book on the breakfast table, and those become the habits to open the devotional book at breakfast.
E: Exciting
E in S.M.A.R.T.E.R. is for exciting. The reason you're willing to take some risks in achieving your goal is because the benefits and gains of taking those risks are exciting to you.
For example, what is exciting about raising your grades or improving your GPA? Maybe it qualifies you for the college that you are trying to get into, or it puts you in the running for valedictorian. Maybe it increases your chances of getting a scholarship to go to college. All exciting benefits!
What is exciting about spending more time with God? If you can read your Bible, one chapter, once a week, or pray four out of five week days, the exciting benefit that you will get from that is a comfort from God and a confidence in your faith that you can't get anywhere else.
What is the exciting benefit from making more friends at co-op? In a homeschool co-op, maybe that will motivate you to go to co-op. Maybe it will motivate you to pay more attention while you're sitting in your classes at co-op because you'll have friends there.
Same thing could be said for youth group. If your goal is to make friends at youth group, the exciting aspect of that is: I will want to go to youth group, I will show up consistently, I will have a community there and I will pay more attention there. Then I will learn, listen to what is being taught there, and the result is becoming the kind of Christian that I actually want to be.
Make sure that the benefits and the gains of your goal are exciting to you. Ask yourself, "What is exciting to me about achieving this goal? What are the benefits that I want by achieving this goal?
R: Relevant
The second R in S.M.A.R.T.E.R. stands for relevant. Relevant means that the goal you have set makes sense to pursue at this time, right now.
A good, relevant goal at the beginning of the school year would be making new friends. A good, relevant goal for senior year might be connecting with your parents. Why? You only have one more year at home (for those of you who plan to go off to college), and senior year is your last year at home. You're not going to have that much time with your parents after you leave. So it makes sense to set the goal to connect with mom and dad this year because next year, you won't be there every day.
Conclusion
I hope the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. framework has helped you to put a plan behind your ideas, behind your goals, so that those goals actually materialize and don't just stay in the idea phase. We have to put plans behind our goals in order for us to work toward them consistently and actually realize them.
Stay focused, stay motivated, and keep moving forward.
If I can support you in any way, email me at [email protected]. I'd love to connect with you!
Brenda Jung is a Christian leadership mentor for middle and high school students. She founded The Well-Led Life Leadership Mastermind Program to help students learn to lead themselves well, so that they can lead others well. More information can be found at www.weleadthis.com
