An 85-year Harvard study found the No. 1 thing that makes us happy in life: It helps us ‘live longer’ →

Marc Schulz, Contributor

Robert Waldinger, Contributor

In 1938, Harvard researchers embarked on a decades-long study to find out: What makes us happy in life?

The researchers gathered health records from 724 participants from all over the world and asked detailed questions about their lives at two-year intervals.

Contrary to what you might think, it’s not career achievement, money, exercise, or a healthy diet. The most consistent finding we’ve learned through 85 years of study is: Positive relationships keep us happier, healthier, and help us live longer. Period.

The No. 1 key to a happy life: ‘Social fitness’

Relationships affect us physically. Ever notice the invigoration you feel when you believe someone has really understood you during a good conversation? Or a lack of sleep during a period of romantic strife?

To make sure your relationships are healthy and balanced, it’s important to practice “social fitness.”

We tend to think that once we establish friendships and intimate relationships, they will take care of themselves. But our social life is a living system, and it needs exercise.

Social fitness requires taking stock of our relationships, and being honest with ourselves about where we’re devoting our time and whether we are tending to the connections that help us thrive.

How to take stock of your relationships

Humans are social creatures. Each of us as individuals cannot provide everything we need for ourselves. We need others to interact with and to help us.

In our relational lives, there are seven keystones of support:

1. Safety and security: Who would you call if you woke up scared in the middle of the night? Who would you turn to in a moment of crisis?

2. Learning and growth: Who encourages you to try new things, to take chances, to pursue your life’s goals?

3. Emotional closeness and confiding: Who knows everything (or most things) about you? Who can you call on when you’re feeling low and be honest with about how you’re feeling?

4. Identity affirmation and shared experience: Is there someone in your life who has shared many experiences with you and who helps you strengthen your sense of who you are?

5. Romantic intimacy: Do you feel satisfied with the amount of romantic intimacy in your life?

6. Help (both informational and practical): Who do you turn to if you need some expertise or help solving a practical problem (e.g., planting a tree, fixing your WiFi connection).

7. Fun and relaxation: Who makes you laugh? Who do you call to see a movie or go on a road trip with who makes you feel connected and at ease?

Below you’ll find a table arranged around the seven keystones. The first column is for the relationships you think have the greatest impact on you.

Place a plus (+) symbol in the appropriate columns if a relationship seems to add to that type of support in your life, and a minus (-) symbol if a relationship lacks that type of support.

Remember, it’s okay if not all — or even most — relationships offer you all these types of support.

Think of this exercise like an X-ray — a tool that helps you see below the surface of your social universe. Not all of these types of support will feel important to you, but consider which of them do, and ask yourself if you’re getting enough support in those areas.

Looking at the gaps on the chart, you might realize that you have plenty of people you have fun with, but no one to confide in. Or maybe you only have one person you go to for help, or that a person you take for granted actually makes you feel safe and secure.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to the people in your life. Whether it’s a thoughtful question or a moment of devoted attention, it’s never too late to deepen the connections that matter to you.

Robert Waldinger, MD, is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, and director of Psychodynamic Therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is a practicing psychiatrist and also a Zen master and author of “The Good Life.” Follow Robert on Twitter @robertwaldinger.

Marc Shulz, PhD, is the associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, and a practicing therapist with postdoctoral training in health and clinical psychology at Harvard Medical School. He is also the author of “The Good Life.”

How Compass Gets Complex Projects Done on Time →

by Robert Reffkin

June 30, 2021

Summary. Every organization needs a reliable system of accountability to help ensure teams are actually completing projects and meeting goals in a timely way. In this piece, author Robert Reffkin, founder and CEO of Compass, lays out the system he implemented at his company. He calls it the Single Point of Accountability (SPOA) approach.

Everyone wants to get more done in less time. Yet when people collaborate, they often encounter a series of common problems: Confusion over who is responsible for what; friction between teams or departments; a single roadblock halting progress completely.

At Compass, the real estate technology company I lead that is now the largest independent brokerage in the country, we’ve successfully implemented a practice called “SPOA” — Single Point of Accountability — to directly address these challenges.

It’s a deceptively simple and surprisingly powerful idea. To help you put the SPOA role into practice in your organization, let me first share where the concept came from — and how it’s distinct from other well-known accountability structures.

When I Realized We Had a Problem

As Compass grew from a dozen employees in one city to tens of thousands of real estate agents and employees serving over 300 cities in the U.S., I noticed that people were spending more time figuring out what work to do and less time actually doing work that delivered results. The company had multiplied in complexity, employees became increasingly specialized, and most projects required participation from multiple departments with multiple priorities.  As a result, our pace and our progress had slowed — but it took me a little while to understand exactly why.

Our biggest obstacle became clear to me during a routine conversation with two colleagues from our legal and finance teams. We were negotiating a partnership with another company, and I asked for an update on the deal terms. I had already inquired a few times over email but hadn’t gotten a clear answer. So when the three of us had the chance to get in a room together, I asked directly: “What’s going on? Have we finalized the deal terms yet?”

One of them said, “We are going back and forth with the other side, but we expect to have an answer soon.”

Frustrated by the lack of detail, I said, “Who’s ‘we’? I don’t understand who is doing what. Specifically.”

There was a brief silence. As it turned out, each of them thought that the other person was going to answer. Throughout the project, their desire to be collaborative led to them deferring to each other. The project had fallen behind schedule because neither employee felt singularly responsible for pushing it forward. They were often waiting for each other’s emails, creating unnecessary bottlenecks and delays.

This situation made a few things clear to me. First, it wasn’t their fault — it was mine for not yet creating a viable system of accountability. Second, this wasn’t an isolated issue; it was happening in hundreds of ways across the company.

To get the partnership done, I assigned one of the two employees to be singularly responsible for completing it. We closed the deal within the week. And we’ve been using the SPOA approach ever since.

How Does SPOA Work?

For every project that requires collaboration across multiple teams, we assign one person to be the SPOA. They’re responsible for driving it forward, clearing blockers, clarifying confusion, delegating tasks, and solving problems. Of course, they don’t have to do the entire project themselves — but they do need to make sure it gets done and that everyone’s responsibilities are clear. And when anyone needs an update on a project, the SPOA is the person who can and should answer.

A good SPOA delivers clarity to anyone else who’s unsure of their role. They enable others to focus, because everyone knows that the SPOA is obsessing over the progress and success of that overall project so they don’t have to. And by being constantly aware of every step of a project, a SPOA can spot patterns and deliver insights about what is working and how to improve the process in the future.

How Is This Accountability System Distinct?

Unlike a project manager, SPOA is not a job title or long-term role — rather, every time there’s a new project or initiative that doesn’t fit neatly into an existing department or job description, we identify a SPOA to drive it to completion. And unlike account management or customer success roles, SPOAs are empowered to do whatever it takes to get a project done. The SPOA’s job is not to absorb client dissatisfaction and communicate it internally.  They’re genuinely responsible for delivering results and are expected to marshal the resources they need to do so. The role changes from project to project, initiative to initiative, depending on the given needs.

The SPOA role is perhaps closest to the “accountable” role in a RACI matrix — a project management framework designed to help clarify roles and responsibilities  — but much simpler and clearer, which makes it more likely the practice will spread organically through your organization.

5 Key Factors of the SPOA Approach

While the basic idea is easy to understand, we’ve learned a number of lessons over the years about when and how to deploy the SPOA role to the greatest effect.

1. Cross-team initiatives need a SPOA. For example, every time we launch Compass in a new city, we assign a SPOA to oversee the expansion. Launches like these require close collaboration from a half-dozen departments, making a SPOA essential.

2. New and novel projects need a SPOA. The first time we reported quarterly earnings as a public company, we knew we’d face process obstacles and communications challenges, since we’d never done it before. It was clear that the SPOA should be our head of investor relations. In this case, our SPOA for the overall initiative decided to designate sub-SPOAs for each key metric we had to report.

3. SPOAs must be empowered. In too many contexts, project managers lack the influence they need to hit deadlines and drive results. To succeed, a SPOA needs to be able to assign work to collaborators over whom they have no managerial authority and to request resources from management to stay on track. The ad-hoc nature of the role helps here, since anyone could end up being a SPOA. As such, you can take existing hierarchies into account when naming SPOAs for mission-critical projects, and empower those SPOAs to operate with authority in their project-specific contexts.

4. The SPOA has to be a great communicator, but not necessarily an expert. The most important skill is being able to synthesize disparate information and clearly say, “Here’s what I’m seeing, here’s where we’re doing well, here’s where we’re not, and here’s what I need from you in order to hit our goal.”

5. Don’t wait to assign a SPOA. If you get to the point in a project where you realize it really should have had a SPOA, it’s already too late. By that point, the effort is likely behind schedule and mired in confusion and frustration — which makes it much more difficult to get someone excited about taking on the SPOA role. One helpful rule of thumb: if you think a project might need a SPOA, it almost definitely needs a SPOA.

No one succeeds alone — in life or in business; collaboration is vital to progress. But it’s difficult for even the most collaborative people to work together effectively if they don’t understand who’s ultimately accountable. The Single Point of Accountability approach accelerates progress, reduces confusion, and facilitates efficient collaboration. Designating a SPOA might not solve all of your problems, but it does free everyone up to maximize their strengths and deliver results.

Read more on Leadership or related topics Managing organizations and Project management

• Robert Reffkin is the founder and CEO of Compass and the author of No One Succeeds Alone.

How I Convinced Robert Reffkin to Write a Book

By Benis Reffkin

Three years ago I was inspired by Robert’s unveiling of the Compass Entrepreneurship Principles, and felt that they should be shared more broadly as a book to inspire those who could benefit from it. When I suggested it to Robert he emphatically said “NO.” Mainly because he didn’t want to take any time away from work and family, but also because — believe it or not — he is a private person and doesn’t want public attention.

As a career coach, I know that often people don’t see their own potential and can’t see the vision of the greater impact they can have. So I felt it was my responsibility to push him. While he’d created the principles of entrepreneurship as a way to articulate the Compass culture, I saw in them a series of ideas that could be valuable to a much larger audience.

It took many conversations over a year to convince him, but I used the very principles he lives by to address his biggest concerns. He worried it’d take him away from work or the kids, so I told him that he could write the book by only allocating 2 hours a week on Saturday nights after the kids go to bed (#BeSolutionsDriven). He had a desire for privacy, but a deeper desire to have a positive impact on perhaps thousands of others who didn’t have access to as many mentors as he had (#DreamBig).

That turned a “no” into a “maybe” but there were still obstacles. He said he didn’t know how to write a book, so I quickly found him a writing partner who helped turn his stories into first drafts that Robert could refine (#MaximizeYourStrengths). I let him know that I would manage the entire process (#CollaborateWithoutEgo) and hired the book agent who represented the CEOs of Microsoft and Bridgewater to guide us (#LearnFromReality).

The result? No One Succeeds Alone: Learn Everything You Can From Everyone You Can with @hmhbooks. We’ve both been so lucky to have had the help of so many at critical points in our lives and this book is a way to honor their impact on us. It is a scalable way to give mentorship to countless people with a dream — and all of the author proceeds will be donated to nonprofits working to do the same. I’m so excited that the book will finally be out in the real world in just a few short weeks! It can be pre-ordered now at NoOneSucceedsAloneBook.com

How “Inner Masters” Win at Social Media

by Dan Burrier, Institute for Personal Leadership

Should business leaders be using social media as a management, marketing and motivational tool? The chorus sings a unanimous yes to the question, and more voices quickly harmonize with the specifics of why, what, when, where and how. Good guidance for leaders at all levels—from the C-Suite to newly minted managers—can quickly be found by any serious article search on the internet. Be authentic. Be personal. Be timely. Be topical. Be careful!

And still, somehow, the number of prominent social media missteps, failings and ineffectiveness compounds. At IPL, our view is that this is not about social media as a medium itself, but rather about the fundamental views and tools that distinguish great leaders from average leaders. Our work and research demonstrate time and time again that great leadership is sourced from within; that the very best leaders achieve higher levels of what we call Inner Mastery. And that from this place of Inner Mastery, it is much easier to maintain both authenticity and high levels of accomplishment. In life. In leadership. And in social media.

Let’s look briefly at IPL’s 5 Pillars of Inner Mastery and Personal Leadership:

• Purpose: acting—in life and leadership—from a core set of inviolable values. With goals as milestones on a value-driven journey.
• Wisdom: understanding and having mastery over your own thoughts, emotions, beliefs and ideas—so that they may serve your purpose and values rather than you being a slave to them.
• Love: taking joy in other peoples’ joy and finding a feeling of success in others’ success.
• Growth: adopting a growth mindset—the understanding that our character and resulting behavior is not fixed, but changeable—and recognizing the potential for growth in others as well.
• Self-Realization: discovering our inner core of peace and tranquility, where we observe our thoughts, feelings and experiences without being swept away by them.

And now let’s examine how each pillar of Personal Leadership might apply to a powerful and effective executive social media approach:

1. Social Media with Purpose. Clearly, posts and tweets with an end result in mind are preferred over those that are random or purposeless, but this is not what we mean in this context. Rather, what is your reason to be, as a company and as a leader? What are the inviolable values and principles you stand for? When all your actions and all your social media posts are sourced from a place of deeply held values and principles—both personal and institutional—it is much easier to post a clear and purposeful message without a misstep.
2. Social Media with Wisdom. Before putting anything “out there,” check in with your internal emotional state. Tweet with intensity and passion when appropriate but harness your emotions; don’t let them harness you and drag you away. Avoid posting when in a heightened emotional state such as anger. Always avoid revenge. This is the battlefield of business after all, not the schoolyard playground. Be thoughtful. Look, listen and wait before you leap.
3. Social Media with Love. What’s love got to do with it? Revisiting our definition of love, you see that we’re not talking about romantic love here (which can, indeed, quickly leave one astray in this digital realm). Rather, we’re speaking about a state of heart, about context and intention. Ask this: where are you coming from as your fingers rest on the keyboard, ready to strike out in the malleable, instantaneous, viral world of social media? If your intention is to increase the opportunity for another person’s success, or to create and share joy for others—to put a smile on their face, to warm their heart—you’ll likely not only create that success and joy for them, but for you and your organization as well.
4. Social Media for Growth. From the point of view that we are all changeable, that no one or no thing is a “lost cause,” social media offers a tremendous opportunity for the savvy leader. How is what you’re about to communicate in this space going to contribute to expanding your audience’s understanding? How will it open up a new point of view? Contribute to professional and personal growth? Social media activities that respect each individual’s opportunity to grow is a powerful strategic tool for shaping culture inside and out of your organization. And for achieving business goals. Of course, if one is uncomfortable with social media itself, one growth-based approach is to seek out a mentor (perhaps younger, perhaps what is sometimes called a digital native) for coaching and guidance.
5. Social Media with Self-Realization. As leaders in today’s ever-changing marketplace, we often are called upon to rapidly shift from one seemingly opposite behavior to another. We must be decisive. And patient. Quick. And reflective. Visionary. And pragmatic. This, and the opposite that. So how are we to proceed? If we simply bounce from one behavior to the next, we can sow chaos, rather than calmly achieve our objectives. Consider instead, standing peacefully at the center of a circle, able to reach out with clarity to choose the right tool, tactic or behavior for the moment, use it and then turn to the next need and tool. Be centered and aware. Not scattered. Then post.

In the end, social media can be a powerful leadership tool, communicating values and value propositions in a way that can be quickly heard, and spread, through the modern media landscape. Executed randomly, emotionally and at a surface level, social media can lead to many missteps, misdeeds and significant mishaps. But when done from a place of purpose, wisdom, love, growth and self-realization—from what we call Inner Mastery—social media can quickly move hearts, minds—and markets—like no other tool we’ve ever had before.

7 Ways to Build Influence at Work

By Jayson DeMers Founder and CEO, AudienceBloom 

Influence is power. No matter who you are, where you work, or what your professional goals are, achieving more influence in the workplace is critical for success. Gaining influence on a team can help you work together more effectively. Gaining influence in a supervisory position can make you more respected and appreciated. Gaining influence in a meeting can make your voice more likely to be heard and acknowledged.

Influence has countless advantages, but gaining that influence, like learning a skill, takes time and effort. Fortunately, there are many strategies you can use to cultivate this characteristic.

1. Build Trust With Your Co-Workers. Influence is most often and most easily carried through trust. Only when a co-worker trusts you will he or she be open to your influence. If you're in a higher position in the company hierarchy, it's possible to convey a demand or assign a task that must be carried out by your employee, but true influence suggests a free will component. If you assigned the same task but didn't carry a higher authority, would your employee still listen to you and believe that the task is necessary to execute?

This hypothetical may not be relevant to your situation, but regardless of your position in comparison to the positions of your co-workers, if you want a healthy and influential working relationship, you're going to have to cultivate trust. The easiest way to do that is to be open and honest, no matter what. State your opinions, disclose your apprehensions, and don't keep secrets. It's as simple as that.

2. Cultivate Reliability Through Consistency. Inconsistency is the fastest way to ruin your reputation. Consistency, on the other hand, is slow but sure--if you execute your tasks effectively and on time, day after day, eventually people will come to rely on you. The same is true when you execute a consistent style of leadership, setting consistent expectations with your employees and giving consistent rewards for good work. People will come to rely on your behavior and expect you to be a consistent performer.

That consistency is vital for building influence. Otherwise, you'll have an air of unpredictability about you, and people won't know whether to trust or impugn your suggestions. If you're consistently motivated by the same principles, people will trust that your ideas are solid and reliable as an extension, and that will make it easier to get people on your side. Consistency is especially important when you're in a lower position, since it demonstrates a degree of dedication.

3. Be Assertive, Not Aggressive. Being assertive is the only way to get your ideas noticed, especially when you're competing with others for visibility, such as in a meeting. However, there's a difference between being assertive and being aggressive. You'll need to present your thoughts and ideas with a high degree of confidence, indicating your convictions, but any excessive degree of confidence could be mistaken for needless arrogance, which will compromise your perceived authority. Tread carefully, especially when you're unfamiliar with your audience or if you're presenting your thoughts on an area outside of your expertise.

This assertiveness should extend as a general quality to all your interactions, regardless of whether you're speaking to employees above, below, or at your level, and regardless of the conversation format. Being assertive, so long as you truly believe in what you're saying, is a way to cultivate a reputation of authority and earn the ability to influence your peers and employees.

4. Be Flexible. Flexibility is also important. While this may seem like it conflicts with the need to be assertive--after all, it's difficult to assert yourself fully if you're open to changing your opinion--being too stringent or adamant in your beliefs will work against you. In this case, people will come to see you as a stubborn, immovable monolith, incapable of believing in anyone other than yourself. This can decrease the respect people have for you and compromise your overall influence.

Instead, work actively to show your flexibility while holding firm on your beliefs. Negotiations and compromises are often the best ways to do this. Stay rigid in your beliefs when someone contradicts you, but work with them to find a mutually acceptable solution. When people believe you to be flexible, they'll be more likely to listen to you even if they're stubborn in their own right.

5. Be Personal. A little personality goes a long way, especially when you're trying to build influence in the workplace. This is especially important when you're in a higher position, as a boss or a supervisor. If you isolate yourself, or try to build your perceived authority by distancing yourself from the others, it might only serve to alienate you and put you in a position where you're viewed with distrust or even resentment.

Instead, go out of your way to have personal exchanges with your employees and co-workers. You don't need to build friendships, but there's no reason why you can't get to know each other. Personal working relationships are important for cultivating a sense of team, and if people see you as another person on the team, they'll be more receptive when you disclose your ideas or opinions. The key here is to seem imperfect, approachable, and human.

6. Focus on Actions Rather Than Argument. Trying to build influence through words is useless. Even a leader with perfect diction and a background in rhetorical strategy can't hope to win the influence of his or her peers through speeches and arguments alone. If you're going to build influence in the workplace, you need to speak through your actions, or at the very least have the actions and history to back up whatever it is you're saying.

Part of this comes into play when you build consistency. Working hard consistently and getting consistently good results shows people that you're able to walk the walk. Demonstrating your ideas through real examples is the next step in this process. Instead of arguing about how your structure will work in theory, put it to the test. Show instead of tell.

7. Listen to Others. Finally, remember that influence is a two-way street. The more you believe in the people around you and incorporate their ideas into your vision, the more they'll believe in your ideas and incorporate them into their work habits. If you want to build up this kind of relationship with your co-workers and employees, you first have to listen. Listen to everyone's opinion, and encourage people to speak up, especially if they don't often voice their opinions. Take time to respect and acknowledge everybody's opinion, and let people know that you value them.

This creates an atmosphere of mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual teamwork. If you're spearheading the initiative to build this environment, they'll come to see you as a leader, and your opinions will naturally be heard, acknowledged, and respected as a result.

Influence is an extraordinary asset in the professional world, but remember, your goal here should be to become more respected in the workplace, not to increase the likelihood of getting others to do your bidding. One is a respectable journey to greater prominence and productivity, while the other is simply a Machiavellian power trip.

SMART Goals: How to Make Your Goals Achievable

by MindTools.com

Do you ever feel like you're working hard but not getting anywhere? Maybe you see little improvement in your skills or achievements when you reflect on the last five or 10 years. Or perhaps you struggle to see how you'll fulfill your ambitions during the next few years.

Many people spend their lives drifting from one job to another, or rushing around trying to get more done while actually accomplishing very little. Setting SMART goals means you can clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, use your time and resources productively, and increase your chances of achieving what you want in life.

In this article, we'll explore what SMART goals are, and we'll look at how you can use them to achieve your objectives.

What Does SMART Mean?

SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting.

Its criteria are commonly attributed to Peter Drucker's Management by Objectives  concept. The first known use of the term occurs in the November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran. Since then, Professor Robert S. Rubin (Saint Louis University) wrote about SMART in an article for The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He stated that SMART has come to mean different things to different people, as shown below.

To make sure your goals are clear and reachable, each one should be:

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

Professor Rubin also notes that the definition of the SMART acronym may need updating to reflect the importance of efficacy and feedback. However, some authors have expanded it to include extra focus areas; SMARTER, for example, includes Evaluated and Reviewed.

How to Use SMART

Paul J. Meyer, businessman, author and founder of Success Motivation International, describes the characteristics of SMART goals in his 2003 book, "Attitude Is Everything: If You Want to Succeed Above and Beyond." We'll expand on his definitions to explore how to create, develop and achieve your goals:

1. Specific

Your goal should be clear and specific, otherwise you won't be able to focus your efforts or feel truly motivated to achieve it. When drafting your goal, try to answer the five "W" questions:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why is this goal important?
• Who is involved?
• Where is it located?
• Which resources or limits are involved?

Example

Imagine that you are currently a marketing executive, and you'd like to become head of marketing. A specific goal could be, "I want to gain the skills and experience necessary to become head of marketing within my organization, so that I can build my career and lead a successful team."

2. Measurable

It's important to have measurable goals, so that you can track your progress and stay motivated. Assessing progress helps you to stay focused, meet your deadlines, and feel the excitement of getting closer to achieving your goal.

A measurable goal should address questions such as:

• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when it is accomplished?

Example

You might measure your goal of acquiring the skills to become head of marketing by determining that you will have completed the necessary training courses and gained the relevant experience within five years' time.

3. Achievable

Your goal also needs to be realistic and attainable to be successful. In other words, it should stretch your abilities but still remain possible. When you set an achievable goal, you may be able to identify previously overlooked opportunities or resources that can bring you closer to it.

An achievable goal will usually answer questions such as:

• How can I accomplish this goal?
• How realistic is the goal, based on other constraints, such as financial factors?

Example

You might need to ask yourself whether developing the skills required to become head of marketing is realistic, based on your existing experience and qualifications. For example, do you have the time to complete the required training effectively? Are the necessary resources available to you? Can you afford to do it?

Tip:

Beware setting goals that someone else has power over. For example, "Get that promotion!" depends on who else applies, and on the recruiter's decision. But "Get the experience and training that I need to be considered for that promotion" is entirely down to you.

4. Relevant

This step is about ensuring that your goal matters to you, and that it also aligns with other relevant goals. We all need support and assistance in achieving our goals, but it's important to retain control over them. So, make sure that your plans drive everyone forward, but that you're still responsible for achieving your own goal.

A relevant goal can answer "yes" to these questions:

• Does this seem worthwhile?
• Is this the right time?
• Does this match our other efforts/needs?
• Am I the right person to reach this goal?
• Is it applicable in the current socio-economic environment?

Example

You might want to gain the skills to become head of marketing within your organization, but is it the right time to undertake the required training, or work toward additional qualifications? Are you sure that you're the right person for the head of marketing role? Have you considered your spouse's goals? For example, if you want to start a family, would completing training in your free time make this more difficult?

5. Time-bound

Every goal needs a target date, so that you have a deadline to focus on and something to work toward. This part of the SMART goal criteria helps to prevent everyday tasks from taking priority over your longer-term goals.

A time-bound goal will usually answer these questions:

• When?
• What can I do six months from now?
• What can I do six weeks from now?
• What can I do today?

Example

Gaining the skills to become head of marketing may require additional training or experience, as we mentioned earlier. How long will it take you to acquire these skills? Do you need further training, so that you're eligible for certain exams or qualifications? It's important to give yourself a realistic time frame for accomplishing the smaller goals that are necessary to achieving your final objective.

Benefits and Drawbacks

SMART is an effective tool that provides the clarity, focus and motivation you need to achieve your goals. It can also improve your ability to reach them by encouraging you to define your objectives and set a completion date. SMART goals are also easy to use by anyone, anywhere, without the need for specialist tools or training.

Various interpretations of SMART have meant that it can lose its effectiveness or be misunderstood. Some people believe that SMART doesn't work well for long-term goals because it lacks flexibility, while others suggest that it might stifle creativity. For more information on the potential weaknesses of SMART, see our article, Locke's Goal-Setting Theory .

Tip:

For other goal-setting resources, see our articles, Golden Rules of Goal-Setting , Using Well-Formed Outcomes in Goal Setting , Personal Goal Setting , and Treasure Mapping .

Key Points

SMART is a well-established tool that you can use to plan and achieve your goals. While there are a number of interpretations of the acronym's meaning, the most common one is that goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

When you use SMART, you can create clear, attainable and meaningful goals, and develop the motivation, action plan, and support needed to achieve them.