The reason why I upgraded my SMART Goals into WISE ones and dropped New Year’s Resolutions completely

Dear Reader,

Since it’s January, the month of the New Year’s Resolutions and Goal-setting madness, I invite you to ask yourself a question:

How good are you in honouring your own commitments?

Many of us, respectable human beings, are relatively good at honouring commitments to other people. We are much more likely to deliver what we promised to another person, especially when there are a clear deadline and expectation. Even those of us who struggle with procrastination will still be quite likely to do our best to make things happen when someone else is waiting for it.

Many of us are not great with sticking to commitments that we have towards ourselves. 

Just take a few steps back and think about it…

You are the only person in the whole world with whom you spend each and every single day of your life.

If there is anyone who needs and deserves your own respect, isn’t it YOU!?

I find it extremely important to honour my commitments, mainly because that is what builds trust in myself. I honestly believe that sticking to your own commitments is one of the key building blocks of your confidence. I also believe that failure to honour your commitments and the mistrust that follows, are some of the biggest underlying reasons for procrastination.

Therefore, I choose my commitments WISEly. 

Let’s hold on for a minute...

Think about these words:

New Year’s Resolution

Goal

Intention

Commitment

What does each of these words mean to you?

What kind of feelings does each of them inspire?

Which one do you find the most attractive?

Do you have another word you like better?

It is your life, so you have the freedom to choose what works for You. Choose what inspires you and fills you up with energy.

So, let’s look closer into finding your ground in the whole January New Year’s resolutions and goal-setting madness.

I will be honest with you. Even though I am a coach, I am not always a big fan of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound). Goals have their place in my life, too, but they are not the only and main thing. Unless set in a wise way, I actually believe that they can create more damage than good.

I have also dropped New Year’s Resolutions all the way (a lot has been said about it already). Instead, I write a letter to myself, going deeper into my vision, intentions, goals and commitments.

So, for me, the whole journey starts with a clear purpose and a long-term vision.

They are my guiding stars and set my direction for the whole process. Without having at least one of the two in place, you’ll find it very difficult to choose the right goals, commitments and intentions.

I wisely select just a few goals, commitments and intentions for the year.

I use the phrase personal commitment for things that are non-negotiable, 100% under my span of control, supporting all my priorities, purpose and vision. They are my ultimate must-haves. I use the word intentions for my “very nice-to-haves”, things I’d love to have but they are not entirely under my sphere of influence (e.g. having more clients depends both on my actions and clients agreeing to work with me). And finally, I use the word goals for tangible outputs that I want to bring to life.

Yes, my goals are most of the time SMART.

But what is even more important, my goals are WISE and linked to my vision and purpose. 

W- worthy & well-thought

I- inspiring & insightful

S- simple & self-loving

E- ecological & excellent

Worthy of my time and attention and well-thought, as they are going to help me fulfil my purpose or vision. Inspiring and insightful so that I am motivated to go after them. Simple because less is more and there is too much complexity and self-loving because it makes no sense to have goals that create an inner-battle. Ecological in the highest sense of being good for the broadly understood environment (“concerned with the relation of living organisms (including humans) to one another and to their physical surroundings”). Excellent because that’s what I feel is really important here; aspiration for excellence (as an upgrade to the often demotivating concept of “hard work”).

I came up with the WISE approach to goal-setting to add more meaning to the process and support myself and my clients on the journey.

Let me show you how exactly this goes down for me.

I start by reviewing my vision for the next 5 years. 

My purpose is clear to me, it is to help people see the silver lining so that they can become the best versions of themselves and get the right things done.

I make a commitment to have my own back.

I have a goal to publish my first book this year.  

And an intention to enrol at least 5 new clients each month and help as many people as possible.

It is all directly supporting my vision and aligned with my purpose. My commitment is WISE and 100% under my own span of control. It’s an absolute must-have if I want to achieve all my goals and live a good life.

My goal is SMART, WISE and it has a clear output: a book.

My intention is what I’d love to have in my life and since it depends to a large degree on other people, I don’t want to associate my sense of success or failure with it.

This way of going about the whole process ensures my commitment, builds my trust and confidence in myself and ensures my personal excellence.