Forever Goals Aren’t SMART

In the last post, I wrote about Forever Goals, which are outcomes I will always want. It’s something I can approach or maintain, not achieve. They are not SMART goals (i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). For example, a SMART goal is phrased like this: “losing 5 pounds by the end of the year by doing 4 hours of cardio per week and tracking calories.” A Forever Goal is more like “be fit.” A Forever Goal could have a logo. It should make a good tattoo. I think a SMART goal is more likely to succeed, especially in the short-term. But I fail a lot of personal SMART goals. For some of my aspirations, it hasn’t caused me to give up. I think it’s because I know I don’t really care about the SMART version of the goal. I care about the Forever version. If done right, a Forever Goal can succeed … forever. Let’s compare the two. In a SMART goal, the Relevancy is how much you want the goal. Relevancy is baked into the idea of a Forever Goals, so no difference there.…