SMARTER Goals: Testing and Fine Tuning

You have designed and set the perfect goal for the New Year.

It’s based on an existing habit and you’ve designed a new routine that should be easy to follow. You followed the SMARTER Goals formula, and have written everything out. Now you are just waiting for January 1st to get started. Unfortunately, this goal will fail quickly if you aren’t prepared.

Let’s look at an example, based on the picture above. Let’s write out our SMARTER Goal.

Specific: I will lose ten pounds by making better food choices
Measurable: At the end of each week I will have lost one pound
Actionable: I will reduce my daily calories by 500 each day. 3500/week
Realistic: I will replace junk food with fruits and vegetables.
Time Bound: I will have lost the ten pounds after 10 weeks
Existing Habit: I will replace my fattening treat at Starbucks with Fruit
Routine: I will have my Latte with a banana instead of a scone

On the surface this looks like a great goal. You take your existing routine and make a minor change. It’s only when you do the math and test the actual routine that you run into problems. I’ve set many seat-of-the-pants goals this way over the years, and many have ended in quick failure because of some unseen factors. Let’s take a look at this particular goal and see what might happen.

Our existing routine happens on the way to work and on weekends. We stop every morning at Starbucks for a Latte and a scone or other high calorie pastry. Our goal is to replace the fattening bakery item with lower calorie fruit. Simple.

Day one comes and we go to Starbucks, we are running a little late, and we find they are out of bananas. So we decide to put off starting our goal until the next day. The next day comes and we are really in a hurry, we forget about our goal and automatically order a scone from habit. Day three comes and we try again. Unfortunately the guy in front of us buys the last banana. That scone sounds real good. Our goal soon fails. While it looked good on the napkin we planned it on, the reality was very different.

Let’s look at where we went wrong.

When we setup the goal we knew that a scone has a lot of calories. We figured it had around 500. We knew that fruit was healthy so we somehow decided it had zero calories. In our mind we had figured a 500 calorie deficit. The day we were planning our goal in Starbucks, they had bananas on the counter. Simple substitution.

Reality was somewhat different.

Researchers have found that

We tend to round up or down when we plan out goals
View things differently if they have a particular label
Often overlook important details.
Figure things will stay as they are

In this case we did all four. Lets do the math.

By going to the Starbucks website and looking at nutrition we can see that…

Raspberry Scone: 480 Calories (We rounded-up a little high on this unhealthy item.)
Banana: 105 Calories (Since we viewed this as “healthy” we discounted the calories.)
Caramel Brulee Latte: 580 Calories (We completely overlooked the liquid calories)

So by actually doing the math we find that our morning trip to Starbucks has a huge load of calories. Many that we didn’t figure into the equation.

Current Calories: 1165

Now we have a lot of options:

Change the Latte to a Black Coffee or Green Tea: -580 Calories
Change the Scone to a Banana: -375 Calories

If we do both of these we can drop a whopping 1060 calories per day and still have a hot drink and sweet treat (banana) for breakfast.

New Calories: 105

To lose a pound of weight we need to drop 3500 calories. With this change we will drop over 7,000 calories for the week, and actually have a two pound reduction. We can even cheat on the days that bananas aren’t available and still do better than we originally planned.

Here is a realistic revised goal plan that has a much better chance at success.

Specific: I will lose ten pounds by making better food choices
Measurable: At the end of each week I will have lost one pound
Actionable: I will reduce my daily calories by 500 each day. 3500/week
Realistic: I will replace my latte with a black coffee or tea.
Time Bound: I will have lost the ten pounds after 10 weeks
Existing Habit: I will replace my fattening Latte at Starbucks with Coffee
Routine: I will have a no calorie coffee instead of a Latte (banana opt)

By replacing the scone most days with a banana, you’ll insure that your goal will be met. It’s always good to give yourself a buffer.

Important Final Step: If you write your final goal statement out in a positive way, such as “I will enjoy a slimmer me by enjoying a hot coffee and delicious banana everyday at Starbucks,” your mind will “see” success and then fulfill it. Leave out negative language such as lose weight, and the items that you can’t have, otherwise your mind will dwell on them throughout the day. Use the SMARTER Formula for planning, but write out a positive statement to keep in front of you.

My suggestions when planning SMARTER Goals

Get accurate data.
Do a few trial runs
Test and retest different options
Plan and write out your final goal in a positive manner.
Keep your goal where you can see it.

Nothing can kill your goals faster than inaccurate data, unforeseen obstacles, and forgetting the new routine. With careful and accurate planning, a few trial runs, and a positive written goal kept where you can see it, you’ll be on your way to successfully completing your goals in the New Year.

In upcoming articles we have a Set of Goals that can revolutionize your life along with an extensive toolbox to help you accomplish them. Stay tuned.