What does success look like? Your first idea might be of that video which went viral, or that app developer who became an overnight millionaire. While these are examples of success, they are definitely the exception, not the rule. The story of the company who used high-level strategies and objectives to make data-driven decisions which steadily increased their revenue and profits over a pre-order.
period of time just doesn't have the same allure, which is unfortunate because it's actually the most common type of success. So how do we succeed? First we need to write a plan for success, which seems obvious considering it's not It's not like a company is going to write a plan for failure, but how you plan changes everything. Which is where we introduce the Smart Objectives Model.
Using this model will help us set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed goals, which gives us the best chance at success. Pretty smart, hey? Let's take the very common and misguided plan to make more money and apply it to our Smart Objectives Model. The problem with Make More Money is that it's undervalued.
defined. How much is enough? Is that revenue or profit? To be specific, we need to state exactly how much and what type. The more specific we are, the more likely we can affect our goal.
The second problem is that the word more is essentially a never-ending amount. A goal needs to be measurable. Otherwise, how do you know if you've achieved it? Which brings us to the next point.
Your goal must be achievable. This means it must be within your ability to achieve it. ability to change. Your goal cannot be my competition will make less money, as much as you may desire it.
And similarly, there's no point changing the goal from make more money to make quadruple the amount of money if that's something that is just not realistic. The ideal goal will stretch the company, not break it. Which leaves us with our last objective, and that is to give your goal a time frame.
These goals are designed to be met, which means there will come a time where you will easily either have met these goals or not, but either of those outcomes is a good observation. Planning a time means you get to reassess once again how smart your goals really are. Lastly, it's important to know when not writing a thesis or an entire business portfolio, our fast-paced world is growing only faster, and the last thing you need is to rewrite a book of goals every time your company pivots on an idea.
Not to mention the more goals you set, the more confusing it will become. Generally, goals should only be three to five objectives written as distinct, stand-alone statements. It's important to focus on what you're trying to achieve rather than how you'll achieve it.