First, a clarification: The concept of regularly assessing our lives (preferably more than once/year), deciding that we want something more/better, and putting in some effort to try to make those desires a reality is a great thing. And, really, that concept is the basis for setting New Year’s resolutions. So it’s not actually the New Year’s resolutions themselves that suck, but rather the way we typically go about setting (and often subsequently ignoring) them. There is, of course, a better way.
Two methods to setting goals
If you’ve spent any time learning about goal-setting, you’ve likely come across the idea of SMART goals. It’s a commonly prescribed approach that aims to make your goals:
- Specific: The goal is clear, well-defined, and unambiguous.
- Measurable: You can measure your progress towards its achievement.
- Achievable: It may be challenging to accomplish, but it seems within reach.
- Relevant: It aligns with your priorities.
- Timely: It has reasonable start & end dates.
On one hand, that all probably makes sense and seems like a good way to set a goal. You have a stationary target (S), knowledge of the distance between you and the target (M), a belief that hitting it is possible (A), motivation to hit it (R), and a timeframe in which to focus your efforts (T).
However, the one very important characteristic missing from a SMART goal is the process by which you can achieve it. And no matter how well-defined the target, you’re not very likely to hit it if you don’t know how to shoot the arrow. In other words, SMART goals are focused on outcome but completely overlook output.
Output is where a second, probably less familiar, approach to goal-setting comes in. Setting a PACT aims to make your goals:
- Purposeful: The goal is meaningful to you in the long-run. It may or may not be currently relevant.
- Actionable: It’s based on small outputs that are within your control as opposed to distant outcomes over which you don’t have direct (or any) control.
- Continuous: The actions are generally simple and, more importantly, repeatable. This doesn’t necessitate a specific timeframe (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly), but it does emphasize consistency within the timeframe.
- Trackable: This sounds the same as measurable, but it’s not. Measuring evaluates your distance from the target. Tracking evaluates the frequency of your taking action to hit (or reach) the target.
While the specifics of this approach may seem less familiar, you’ve probably set some goals this way in the past without realizing it. If you don’t believe me, think back to the last time you decided you were going to “go to the gym four days/week this year…”
And therein lies the potential downside to the PACT method. You can easily fall into the trap of focusing purely on output and forgetting that outcome is also important.
Is going to the gym a specific number of times really what you wanted? Or did you choose to go because of the expected benefits from doing so? Are you a failure if you only go twice the week after Christmas? Or when you’re on vacation? Does exercising at home count? What about if you’re on-call and have to quit your workout early? You get the picture.
So, what’s the best approach then?
Best of both worlds
If you haven’t guessed, I’d suggest that paying some consideration to both methods yields the best results. Lets take a quick look at a real life example:
I went to college for information technology and worked 10 years in that career. In 2007, I was doing I.T. work full-time and a little bit—like an hour or two/week, if that—of personal training on the side, mostly with friends & co-workers. Kettlebells found their way into my awareness, and I decided to attend a certification so that I’d be more comfortable and effective in training both myself and those few friends & co-workers.
So, I bought a few kettlebells of my own and decided I wanted the following:
SMART goal: Pass the certification on April 8, 2008.
PACT goal†: Learn to snatch by November 1, 2007. Snatch x 5 reps/side, on the minute 2-3x/week (plus 1-2 other sessions of presses, squats, & get-ups). Start @ 16 kg. When I can do 30 minutes (preferably by December 15), start using 20 kg. When I can do 30 minutes (preferably by February 1), start using 24 kg. Do a pre-test in mid-March with 24 kg (32 reps/side, one hand switch, no set-down). Hope that adrenaline helps me out in 3 weeks…
(† I didn’t realize at the time that I was setting a “SMART PACT”. But looking back, it’s what I did.)
Notice that each goal checked all the appropriate boxes:
(SMART)
- Specific: Pass the requirements (from the certification website)
- Measurable: Did I pass or fail?
- Achievable: I can do this… I think.
- Relevant: So that I can get better results for myself and some of the people I’m coaching. Not particularly relevant to my I.T. career, however.
- Timely: April 8 will come and go.
(PACT)
- Purposeful: I really enjoy sports and other physical tasks, and I want to help others improve their fitness and have fun in the process. Getting certified will help me do that.
- Actionable: Snatch 2-3x/week.
- Continuous: From now—which was September at the time—through the cert.
- Trackable: Did I do the work this week?
With only the SMART goal and random workouts, I’d never have been strong enough by the time of the certification to pass the snatch test or, probably, to even get through the entire cert. As it was, I had trouble walking when I got out of bed on day three.
With only the PACT goal, I’d have cut myself some slack if I only snatched once/week since there wouldn’t have been a deadline. And since I was teaching myself how to snatch and ended up with lots of bruises while doing it wrong for 6-8 weeks, I may have eventually just stopped altogether.
In any case, setting both goals got the job done. (If it hadn’t, I might still be doing I.T. work.)
Putting it into practice
If you’ve made it this far, you may be thinking that all of this is fine and good, but you don’t necessarily know where to start. Or you’re already formulating some ideas but also have a tendency to read articles like this and continue on with your day without ever making a change.
In any case, I certainly want to leave you with a specific, actionable takeaway from every Trainer Tips Tuesday. (It’s one of my current SMART PACTs, if you will.)
So with that in mind, here’s your homework:
Open your calendar or planner, and create an appointment on the first day on which you have 30 minutes available in each of the following months: January, April, July, October.
When that day/appointment arrives, spend that 30 minutes (or less!!!) designing one—yes, only one(!)—SMART PACT for the next 11-13 weeks. As you get better at the process you can design shorter goals or ones that span quarters (or even years).
Finally, get to work on achieving it, and remember to take some time to celebrate when you do!