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Taking Measure with S.M.A.R.T. Goals.
Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Mark Des Cotes, I curse Darrell for ever telling me about the game Two Dots, and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I talk about aiming for goals in a measurable way.
Today’s Fun Fact of the Day: Today Canada, the USA, as well as many other places in the world are celebrating Labour day. So what better topic for today’s fun facts. Did you know that Labour Day originated in Canada? It began in 1872 in Toronto Ontario. It was originally a day to support a strike by labour unions against the 58 hour workweek. The first observance of Labor Day in the US came ten years later in 1882 when 10,000 workers paraded through New York City. So if you are off of work today enjoying a long weekend, then on behalf of the Canadian Labour Unions, you’re welcome.
Here’s What I leaned yesterday.
I’m in the process of setting up a new podcast I will be launching at the end of the month at resourcefuldesigner.com. I’m creating this podcast to help graphic and web designers who work out of their home like I do. In a few months I’ll be celebrating 10 years since I started my own business and I figure I have some knowledge to share.
Now starting the new podcast isn’t that hard to do. All one has to do is record an episode, upload the audio file to a server and submit the feed to iTunes and voila. A brand new podcast exists.
Of course that’s all well and good but a new podcast sitting on iTunes doesn’t do very well if nobody knows about it.
So even though the actual podcast part is easy. There’s a lot more involved if you want to create an online presence for the show like I do. There’s the website, social media accounts, email lists, publicity and marketing and a whole slew of other things to do. It can seem overwhelming.
Last week I attended a webinar about setting goals for your podcast. The focus of the presentation was to not only set goals, but to set measurable goals. The presenter started talking about S.M.A.R.T. goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. What’s funny about this is that I did a Stuff I Learned Yesterday episode on this exact topic back in January. You can check out SILY Episode 213 – Resolutions and Goals. But for some reason I wasn’t following my own advice.
I’ve had a list of goals concerning my new podcast sitting on the corner of my desk for quite some time now.
Some of the items on that list include:
- Update resourceful designer website
- Set up podcast hosting and iTunes account.
- Record Podcast episodes
- Build email list
- Attract listeners via social media
This are all very nice goals, but the problem is that’s all they were, goals. They were not S.M.A.R.T. goals.
I didn’t have them listed in specific details, I didn’t set targets to measure them by, so I didn’t know if they were achievable or realistic. And I hadn’t set any deadlines so I didn’t know if they were timely.
I should have known better since I do usually adhere to the S.M.A.R.T. goals rule, but for some reason I wasn’t following my own advice and I needed that webinar to kick me in the pants.
In my mind I was planning on launching the new podcast some time in the fall, which sounded great, but it created no sense of urgency to motivate me.
So on Friday I wrote out a new list. This one goes looks like this:
- Update Resourceful Designer Website:
- Add plugins for SEO, Post Templates, Pretty Links, and install a podcast player. All by September 23rd.
- Set up podcast hosting and iTunes account:
- Contact Libsyn to create a second account for Resourceful Designer along side Solo Talk Media. Record a short placeholder episode and submit it to iTunes by September 11th.
- Record podcast episodes:
- Record 6 episodes and have them ready to launch by September 29th. Topics are…
- Build email list:
- Create landing page for podcast coming soon and connect it to Mail Chimp by September 11th,
- and another for email notifications post podcast launch also connected to Mail Chimp by September 29th.
- Attract Listeners via social media.
- And I go into detail of what I’m going to do on Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook. All of these starting by September 14th.
Now if you compare the previous list with my new list, you can see how S.M.A.R.T. Goals can really help me focus. I now not only know what I have to do but I also know how I’m going to do it, and when I need to do it by.
My goals are now Specific in what I have to do.
They’re Measurable because I’ll know when I’ve achieved them.
They’re Achievable, because they’re all within my capabilities.
They’re Realistic, in that they’re all possible.
And they’re Timely In that I’ve given myself enough time to complete them but I’ve also giving myself a deadline to follow.
With my new list I should have a successful podcast launch on September 30th. Which just so happens to be International Podcast Day.
Here’s what I learned.
Knowing something doesn’t help if you don’t utilize that knowledge. I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been planning this podcast for over a year now. I originally planned on launching it October 2014, but for one reason or another I just never did. This summer I became determined to launch it this fall. In fact my trip to Podcast Movement was specifically to learn things for this new podcast and not necessarily for any of my shows at Solo Talk Media. But again, this fall was a very vague goal and if I would have left it at that I don’t know when I would have launched it.
That webinar about setting goals for your podcast was exactly the push I needed. I now know everything I need to do in detail, and when I need to do it by in order to have a successful launch.
Now you probably don’t have a podcast you want to launch. If you do I suggest you talk to Darrell about it, it’s what he does. But I’m sure you do have things you want to get done in your life. Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals is the surefire way of achieving them.
Don’t just set a goal to loose weight. Set a goal to Loose 10 lbs. in 30 days by exercising and cutting out deserts. That’s specific 10 lbs., it’s measurable, just get on the scale, it’s achievable, exercising and cutting out deserts can get you there, It’s realistic, 10 lbs. is realistic, and it’s timely, you have 30 days to do it in, plenty of time. This is a S.M.A.R.T. Goal.
Don’t just set a goal to repaint the house. Set a goal to paint one room every weekend and get it done before Christmas.
Don’t’ just set a goal to read or better yet write a book. Set a goal to tackle one chapter or more per week by dedicating whatever time is required on a daily basis.
Don’t just save for a vacation. Figure out how much your vacation will cost. Determine when you want to take your vacation. Count how many weeks until then and calculate how much money you need to put aside each week. If the amount isn’t realistic you can either find a way to cut the vacation costs, or push back the date to give you more time to save.
Whatever your goals are. You’ll find them much easier to achieve if you make them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely.
So take some time this week to go over your goals and see how you can make them S.M.A.R.T. Goals.
I’m Mark Des Cotes and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
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