Why Be Smart When You Can Be Bold? Goal Setting For True Divas
Last week I met with my best friend and business coach Wanda Taylor for our usual “New Years Goal Setting Strategy Meeting.” Every year for as far back as I can remember, she and I have sat down with our new ink pens and new journals and scribbled out some Smart Goals for the New Year. You know the ones – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely? Yeah, THOSE. Well, after all of these years I can safely say we have reached… maybe three of them. MAYBE.
Why Be Smart When You Can Be Bold?
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So this year when we met, I honestly had not written down the FIRST one. I know, bad me. I just couldn’t get inspired to really start setting goals. It was always the “same ole’ thing” every year, and I just wasn’t feeling up to getting excited all over again for the same thing. Wanda on the other hand, had a brilliant idea that I absolutely fell in love with! She told me this year she wasn’t going SMART – she was going BOLD.
Freedom lies in being bold. -Robert Frost
“I have 21 journals in my closet that have the first 5 pages written in all about my goals for that year,” she said. I looked – I HAVE THEM TOO! The same goals, every year, all mapped out with a timeline and steps and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…
WHY?! Why do we do that and then never go any farther?
Because SMART Goals are BORING. It’s BORING! I mean, really – how excited can you get over “I’m going to lose 2 pounds per week for the next six months” or “I’m going to hold one party per week and add one new team member” blah blah blah…. No. Boring. I dozed off just TYPING that.
STOP IT! GO BOLD!
Be bold. If you’re going to make an error, make a doozy, and don’t be afraid to hit the ball. -Billie Jean King
BOLD goals are about breaking all of the SMART goals rules. (You know how I love breaking rules, so this is right up my alley.) BOLD stands for BIG, OUTRAGEOUS, LEGENDARY, DREAMS. You know, the kind of goals you want but until now have never dared to say – OUT LOUD!!! BOLD goals are about dreaming. About reaching. About wondering “Holy Cow, what if I really DID achieve that!?”
BOLD is not about being realistic, or even believing that you can achieve them – it is about daring to let yourself say – OUTLOUD – what it is that you want in your life, and what you want to work towards. It is about telling the Universe that this is what you DESERVE, and what you intend to strive for.
The people who have made these huge milestones in their lives were willing to be BOLD. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Oprah – these are not people who set little “realistic and measurable” goals. No, they looked at the moon and then did everything they could to get there. They dared to go BOLD, even when people laughed at them, told them they were crazy, and that they would never do it. Well, we all know who is laughing now.
All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you don’t win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold. – Anita Brookner
Being BOLD takes courage. But just think… what if you really DID achieve it? What if you really DID make Million Dollar Club this year? What if you really DID lose 100 pounds? What if you really DID quit smoking – right now?
WHAT IF YOU DID!?
So what is the WORST thing that could happen? You don’t reach your BOLD goals? (Hey – newsflash – ya didn’t reach the SMART ones either!) With BOLD goals you do succeed – you dared to DREAM. You put it all “out there.”
If it is one year from now, and you are looking back on your year, what do you want to think? “Man, I set those little attainable, realistic goals back in January and I STILL didnt get them” or “Wow, I shot for the moon, I worked my tail off, and who cares whether I succeeded or not – I DREAMED! *I* was BOLD!”
