And, what if it works out?


"Set goals." They say.

"Set S.M.A.R.T. goals." They insist.

And, yeah - goals are great. I'm not knocking them. But goals are also not the end-all-be-all. Far from it.

I'll even go so far as to say: If you only focus on goals ("goal-oriented" in resume-speak) you'll find yourself in trouble, quickly.

Yet, oddly, I only really hear people talk about the importance of goal setting and nothing more. They stop short. Set goals. That's it. It's a wonder why I've never seen anyone talk about what's far more important: what comes after you succeed.

You see, one day, you will achieve your goal. After chipping away at it, day by day, you'll check the final proverbial checkbox on the proverbial checklist and have nothing more to check... proverbially. And then you'll suddenly face an existentially dreadful question: Now what?

This was a recent experience of my own. And, I'll be vulnerable enough to share: it's a struggle to type this out. It's painful. It hurts.

Not for any emotional reason, mind you. It's purely physical. 

You see, recently, I'd set a goal for myself. A SMART goal: Learn to climb a 12 foot long rope in 1 month.

The reasons are irrelevant. What matters is that yesterday I found myself 12 feet above a concrete floor, relishing in achieving my goal a week ahead of schedule. And, dangling at knee-breaking height, I suddenly faced reality: Now what?

I'd worked so hard at climbing up, I never stopped to think about getting down. My SMART goal was well defined. I measured my progress. I iterated, and improved. But never once did it occur to me to look beyond my goal. And then, with no other choice, I slide down the fibrous climbing rope as my hands, fingers and finger tips burned like the exterior of a space pod returning me to terra firma.

My goal was both achievement and failure.

Looking at my now blistered red fingers, I realized: there's a lesson to be learned here.

And sure, this case may be silly, but time and time again I've seen this same problem play out. We set career goals, product goals, life goals...rope climbing goals. And then what?

I've had friends talk of feeling empty, stuck, confused, unsure. Others talk of settling into routine. Stagnating. Not sure what's next and too scared to try.

But that's where the trap is: it's tempting to say the obvious next step is to plan for the next goal. Success isn't achieving successive goals. That's skipping the in-between steps. The step where you safely climb back down from the rope with fingers unburned. The step where you rest and recharge. The step where you reflect on what you can do differently, so you can climb more efficiently. The step where you buy climbing gloves.

Rather than talk about SMART goals, maybe we should consider SMARTER goals. Where E is for Exit-able (as in, you need an exit strategy once achieved, otherwise risk becoming trapped), and R is Repeatable (because to truly achieve a goal is to do it again under different conditions).

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