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Deconstructing Why I Don't Think SMART Goals Are All That Smart

If you've been in the work world long enough, I'm sure you've come across SMART goals at one point or another. SMART is a conveniently created acronym to help a person build essentially "reasonable" goals. These criterion are defined as the following:

  • Specific (simple, sensible significant)
  • Measurable (meaningful, motivating)
  • Achievable (agreed, attainable)
  • Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based)
  • Time-bound (time-based, time-limited, time-sensitive)

At first blush, I think most anybody can agree that these are good things to hold to. I've seen them practiced in organizational performance development, and I know they were deeply espoused in my Master's degree.

But I'm not sold on these criterion. When trying to recently use this formula for myself, I found myself frustrated by the limitations imposed by this method. Just like the title of this post says, I don't think SMART goals are all that smart. Let's deconstruct each of these criterion and examine why.

SPECIFIC

My problem with being specific is that a person tends to sweat the details to reach that goal. This isn't a bad thing in a setting like losing weight, but this can be severely detrimental in a business setting. I have sat in meetings for well-intentioned efforts immediately delve down into the ultimately valueless details because they served as a means to get to that end goal. When we focus on a bigger picture instead of something specific, the details tend to work themselves out. To that end, getting specific with your goals is a bad idea.

MEASURABLE

I honestly don't know why this is important. Because you want to pat yourself on the back in the end...? I think it makes the assumption that we can replicate our practices for similar goals in the future, and I just don't think that's all that true. Plus, specific goals rarely look the same, so I think it's just a waste of time keeping track of what worked and what didn't. We all remember the big things that really went well. Again, when we start sweating the little details, we lose sight of a grander prize.

ACHIEVABLE

I have the biggest problem with this criterion from both an optimistic and pessimistic perspective. From a pessimistic perspective, how do you know you can actually achieve your goal? We're operating under the assumption that your current goal is something that is not a present reality, so how can you certainly say something is or isn't achievable? From a perspective of optimism, how do you know this is the only thing you can achieve? How do you know you can't do more? When I was first losing weight, I set a goal of 50 pounds. After I hit that mark, I opened the goal up to a general "we'll see how far I can go". Turns out I was capable of losing 100 pounds. How do you know your "achievable" goal isn't limiting yourself?

RELEVANT

Of all these criterion, this is probably the only one I can get on board with. But come on, folks: this should be common sense! You don't seek to lose weight by working toward becoming an accountant. They just don't match up. We don't need the R in SMART to tell us that.

TIME-BOUND

Much like my thoughts on "Achievable", you don't truly ever know how long things take. Actually, I can make a pretty solid argument that most short term goals can be achieved much more quickly than what you might think. This is where "time-bound" really becomes a problem. Let's say you set out to earn you PMP within one year. As somebody who has their PMP, I can tell you that while it's tough, it can reasonably be done in about 3-4 months. So if you say in January that you'll get it within the year, guess when you're most likely to actually get it. Yup, December. And it's not because it takes a full year but rather because you allowed yourself the time to dilly dally.


Do you agree with these sentiments, or am I totally off base? Personally, I don't ever see me creating any SMART goals for myself in the future. I don't want to be constrained by a formula that places limitations on me. Instead, I want to see just how far I can push myself because, more often than not, I am surprised by the results. I think you might be surprised at what you're capable of, too, so I would encourage you all to always shoot higher than what you think is reasonable.
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