From SMART to WACKY goals

Try my WACKY goal setting technique

This is how I set my personal goals and make them as WACKY as possible.  The WACKY’er the better!

Goals are the fundamental tool for personal and organisational development.  After all, how can you know you have achieved something or even improved your situation at all if you have no target or benchmark to work from?

SMART Goals

The most common business goal setting tool is known as SMART goals.  The use of acronyms is very common in the business world and SMART goals are generally taken to be goals that are Specific, Measurable & Motivating, Aligned, Reachable and Time driven.

This is all well and good in the business world of performance management where by and large people want a stretch but not too much of a stretch.  The risks of failure are sometimes high so the taking of chances is not encouraged by many managers.  I personally view this as a huge deficiency in many organisations.  Permission to try and to fail (and therefore learn) is not usually given.

Setting personal goals for self development

Many people, through their experience at work, are therefore familiar and comfortable with the SMART goals approach.  If they form any personal goals at all, they are likely to design SMART goals.  If the same timidity and safety approach is applied to personal goals they are likely to be weak and not that motivating for the individual.  Are these goals likely to be achieved?  If they are achieved, are they going to rock your or anyone else’s world?  My answer to both questions is NO!!

If you are going to pursue goals in your life then you had better make them huge, awesome, life-changing, jaw-dropping, pulse quickening goals that are worth your effort and time.  Aim for the stars – even if you come up short you will still have had a hell of a ride and be higher than most everyone else.  You will have learnt valuable lessons and be more than motivated to try again.  In my opinion it is far better to regret the things you’ve done than live a life regretting the ones you didn’t try.

Introducing WACKY Goals

This is how I do it – using the acronym WACKY.  I think that if a catchy acronym is used it will stick in your mind and you’ll find you can access it easily.  Hopefully you’ll then use it all the time and spread the message to others.

I want people to think my personal goals are totally WACKY – that’s great – then they will likely be the goals that others may not have thought of or are too scared to try for themselves.   I want to stretch myself – that’s the only way to grow and develop as a person and be able to help others more effectively.  That’s always been my driving force.  Partial failure of one of my WACKY goals will often be better than most people’s mediocre SMART goals – I’ll learn loads of good stuff and be that much closer to where I want to be.  I also take my time to form them and that way I get the real honest from the heart stuff – it really works for me.

Don’t be SMART be WACKY!

How to set WACKY Goals

These WACKY goals are generally my over-arching long-range life goals so they will certainly contain lots of mini-goal stages – that’s fine – many small steps will add up to a huge journey.   I try and make the small steps as WACKY as possible – it all makes life interesting.

Wonderful – it is meant to be a great goal so if my goal doesn’t fill me with wonder, what’s the point?  It has to be something that makes my imagination work hard.  I want it to play on my mind and draw me on down that road less travelled.

Animating – again, if it doesn’t get me fired up and raring to go and get started – I’ll find another goal that will.  I want my pulse to quicken when I think about it.  I want to be animated when I talk to my nearest and dearest about it and I want them to be amazed by it.

Colossal – I make it big, big and bigger yet.  If it doesn’t make me stop and think “hold the phone, that’s big even by my standards – people will think I’m mad” then I rethink it and just make it bigger.  I make it a huge hairy-assed goal that if achieved will make me think “Yeah, that was a good one”.  If people saw my goal in the street they would cross the road to avoid it – it will be a kick-butt monster of a goal.

Killer – I try to make it undeniably unique and special; when achieved it will be well worth the sacrifice and effort.  I’m a trend setter not a follower – I set great goals that I and others have not yet achieved.

Your – I own it with my heart and soul.  It’s personal.  I will pour my energy into it – failure is not an option.  Roller skating up Everest is just not my goal – my goals have to be my goals.  I have learnt over the years to pick goals that really do chime with my core values as an individual human being.

That’s it.  This technique has taken me years to discover, formulate and learn and I am still trying to get it perfect.  It is a life-long challenge.  No one said it would be easy but I urge you – don’t be SMART be WACKY.

Try and design some of your own WACKY goals for your life – you will be surprised where they take you.

By Andrew Pope →

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