SKIP SMART GOALS, A RIGHT-BRAINED WAY TO ANNUAL PLAN
We are just a week into the New Year and for some of us, we are off to a great start towards our goals and resolutions. For others, the first seven days of the year have already been challenging, the resolution is already out the door. Maybe you’ll revisit this next year? Fear not! Let’s turn your new year around (or amp up the current positive flow) with an approach to goal setting that might work better for the right-brained creative.
SMART goals have been a trending strategic method for goal setting. The acronym asks goal setters to write Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely goals. The specificity of this method allows for certainty that the direction one is heading is toward the success of the plan or goal.
While SMART goals are a proven strategy and work well for some, this focused and left-brained method can be challenging for some creative business owners who manage a career that allows for inspiration, ambiguity, and flow. It also may feel a bit more corporate or reminiscent of performance reviews of last jobs. Strategies like these tend to be the exact opposite of why creatives venture out on entrepreneurial enterprises and can cause us to avoid this critical business process altogether. A precise and detailed plan can quickly become rigid and uninspiring, but other goal-setting methods may prove to be beneficial to creatives, entrepreneurs, and artists in achieving their annual plans.
Thematic goals are broad; the complete opposite of the SMART model. These goals are an overarching concept with multiple options for achieving them. Thematic goals can be a short phrase or even a single word. A lack of motivation or interest in one task towards the achievement of the goal doesn’t prevent forward momentum as there are many paths to take.
Let’s model this method with the goal of getting out of business debt. A SMART goal would be to: Reduce debt by $4700 on the business credit card by December 2024 by doubling monthly payments.
Late or unpaid bills, a poor credit rating, or calls from creditors can all breed shame around this resolution. By zooming out this goal to a wider theme of bettering financial literacy, this goal can encompass many micro steps and actions for moving forward. A wider goal can include the original goal of debt reduction, but also allow for more creative methods of learning financial management skills. A thematic approach would provide many options:
Listening to financial and business management podcasters
Reading investing books
Joining an accounting education program (Sunlight Tax has a great year-long tax education program for creatives)
Trying out couponing apps to save money, cash stuffing, or fun cash savings challenges
Considering new ways to expand your product or services to increase cash flow
Or experiment with new financial tools for example a projection tool can help anticipate spending
Days that feel like climbing out of debt feel heavy, the other tasks that help support financial literacy can help build resilience, skills, and accomplishment towards your wider thematic goal.
Let’s try another common, but seemingly un-creative resolution: losing weight. A SMART version would be: Go to the Workout Express gym for one hour a minimum of 5 days per week in 2024 to lose 30 lbs.
Endless fad diets paired with instant-result-influencers on social media can leave the realities of weight loss discouraging. Practicing this method of forming a wider thematic goal would change this goal to healthier self-care practices. This rephrasing of the initial goal includes weight loss but allows for additional methods of both self-care and healthy practices. On days the scale doesn’t appear to move, try other ways to work towards that goal:
Enjoying nature and going on a walk (a method suggested as a way to open up creativity, especially encouraged by author Julia Cameron)
Prepare a new protein smoothie (cooking and trying new recipes is a very creative activity)
Going to the doctor or dentist for an annual check-up
Fun activities like getting a fresh haircut or painting your nails a funky new color are just a few ways to make yourself both feel and look good about yourself.
Achieving goals doesn’t have to be super arduous. The great aspect of this strategy is that you can also include fun tasks. Yes, goal setting and achievement don’t have to be capital H hard. Whether or not you feel like you have started 2024 on the right or wrong resolution path, experiment with the thematic goals approach and be sure to add an element of fun. Take the initial goal you set for this year and expand on it by using this anti-SMART, thematic approach, and find many paths towards your desired result.
