I considered myself to be goal oriented person. Some may even say that I take it to the extreme. Every year, every month, every week, and every day (sometimes even every hour or minute) has SMART goals. Extreme? I’ll let you decide. I digress. Today is not about my goal-oriented nature, but it is inspired by it.
Today is somewhat of a philosophical question, which is only fitting for The Scholarly Coin, as challenging viewpoints are often first introduced by academics, the only people who have enough time to just sit and think. Well, I guess students do too.
What is a SMART Goal?
A SMART Goal is not just a goal that is intellectually sound, nor is it just the lack of stupidity in your goal setting. A SMART goal is a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Relevant, and Timed. Thus, spelling the word SMART. Whoever thought of that one was a real genius.
I’m going to assume you have an understanding greater than a 5th grader, and therefore, I don’t need to explain each of those adjectives.
SMART Goals are considered the most scientifically proven way to achieve your goals, but the question becomes, was that goal a good enough goal worth achieving in the first place?
What is an Unrealistic Goal?
An Unrealistic goal is simply one that seems nearly impossible to complete. Like me becoming an Olympic athlete, getting recruited by Google when I graduate, or being able to speak 100 languages.
The thing about unrealistic goals is that they set your sights a lot higher than a SMART goal. Unrealistic goals push the limits of what you believe is possible. Here comes the philosophical line… unrealistic goals have pushed people to be there best since the beginning of time. What was once thought of as unrealistic has not only become possible, but probable.
There was once a day when a 4-minute mile was considered impossible. Since the day of Roger Banister, a man with an unrealistic goal, there has been 1497 other athletes to beat his mile time. That doesn’t feel very unrealistic anymore.
In fact, that’s what I am here to discuss.
Unrealistic Goals vs. SMART Goals
So, what’s better, SMART goals or unrealistic goals? I will be 100% transparent. I don’t know. This is more of a thought experiment. The Scholarly Coin is all about questioning what we already believe to be true, and it would be a dishonor for me to think there is a better option based solely on my personal experience. Thus, I will give you my best argument for both and explain where I fall on this topic.
Strengths and Limitations of Both
SMART goals are arguably the most effective way of setting goals. It forces you to stay focused, keep track of progress (what gets measured gets improved, right?), and puts a time limit on your goal. These things bring a great amount of specificity and accountability. It’s easier to know when you are failing to play piano for 15 minutes every day – well, when you don’t play piano for 15 minutes every day.
This brings me to the most important and essential part of any goal. A defined concrete outcome. SMART goals force you away from the abstract goals and make you be very specific. Being great at the piano by the end of 3 months is not specific and it isn’t concrete. What does “being great” even mean? Does it mean that you can play some of the hardest classical music? Does it mean you can freestyle in any scale? Does it mean that you can play with your eyes closed while juggling tennis balls with your feet?
As the above example shows (even if it is ridiculous), is that specificity is crucial, otherwise you’ll never know if you actually completed your goal. But what limits specificity is achievability.
“Wait… Wait… Wait… If the goal isn’t achievable, what’s the point in having it?”
That is a beautiful question random reader.
Achievability is a limiting factor only because human beings are limited by their belief of what is achievable. If the Wright brothers didn’t believe in the impossible, they would never have created the airplane. While others were limited by their conception of what is achievable, the Wright brothers set an unrealistic goal, and they achieved it.
Time and time again, the world was progressed by those who thought it was possible, even when the world told them it was not.
The power of an unrealistic goal can be summed up in one of my favorite quotes. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Oscar Wilde.
The real tragedy is not setting your sights too high and not achieving it. The real tragedy is setting your sights too low and settling. There is power in setting a goal higher than you believe is reachable, and I will show you why.
Higher Goals = Greater Outcomes?
Let’s say you are about to be a newly minted graduate, something I can personally resonate with, and you believe that a realistic goal is getting a job that pays 55K a year after school. Not bad money for a student who has been living that rationed lifestyle, and it’s not a huge ask in an interview. What a respectable thing to do as a student, but are you really respecting yourself?
What if you had a more ambitious goal? Let’s say you want to make 100k right out of college. You have the internship experience and the drive that you believe is worth that much money. Your sights are set high, and maybe higher than you can realistically achieve, but nonetheless you believe in yourself.
In example one, you get exactly what you asked for and nothing more. The job pays you what you think you are worth, and you go about your life wondering if you could have asked for more pay. However, in example two, you don’t get what you want. 100k was too much to ask for and you weren’t able to find a job that would pay you that much. Instead, you find a job that will pay you 85k and because of your confidence in your own value, a promising career path.
I will let you decide who is the winner in this scenario. Because from my viewpoint it’s the person that didn’t achieve their goal.
My Opinion on Goal Setting
By the way I framed the above examples it’s probably easy to recognize that I favor unrealistic goals. I’ve set my sights very high, and I will continue to set my sights very high. It’s how I operate. It helps push me to achieve my goals, even if I fall short occasionally.
But don’t worry, I’m not completely insane. I find a lot of value in SMART goals. I actually use them on a weekly basis. My formula is simple. Have a large, seemingly unreachable “big” goal, and break it down into smaller SMART goals.
This strategy allows me to celebrate the little wins (so I don’t always feel like a failure), without causing me to settle for just the little goals. It’s how I’ve learned how to play piano, it’s how I’ve achieved a better physique, and it’s how I continuously learn about topics that interest me.
We don’t live in a world that is either or, but rather in a world that can be both and.
But that’s just my opinion. What do you think?
If this article challenged any way you thought or created new questions to ask. I encourage you to send me an email with your questions. After all, I am no expert. Just a man, trying to learn as much as he can when he’s young.
Until the next article.
Your writing is like a breath of fresh air in the often stale world of online content. Your unique perspective and engaging style set you apart from the crowd. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.
Your blog is a true hidden gem on the internet. Your thoughtful analysis and in-depth commentary set you apart from the crowd. Keep up the excellent work!