Reflect & Write

If you already have a goal in mind, reflect and write about what led you to your goal and why it is important to you. If you don't have a goal in mind, take a moment to think about your life. (If you haven't yet completed the Life Dimension survey, doing so can prepare you for this step.) Write down your thoughts and feelings about what you want, ultimately.

Use any of these questions to stimulate ideas:

• In my personal life what 3-5 things are most important to me?
• In my work/career life what 3-5 things are most important me?
  • What are my greatest skills and abilities?
  • What am I passionate about? What springs from my soul?
  • Which of my skills and passions can I best use to benefit my employer and employment situation?
• In my Social/Community/Service/Spiritual life what 3-5 things are most important to me?
• Which items are related? What patterns, connections or relationships exist? What can be grouped?
• What do I feel is my deep purpose, vision, and values?
• What progress, proficiencies, accomplishments, achievements and outcomes do I desire in the next few months or upcoming year?

Keep in mind that this goal will be refined, enhanced, and made SMARTER as you step through this wizard, so whatever you write here is fine at this point. It doesn't have to be specific or structured in any way.

SMARTER

While you may have heard of SMART goals, Sixth Dimension takes you to a whole new level with SMARTER goals.

Now we are going to take you through each letter of the acronym SMARTER to transform yours into a smarter goal.

Here is your goal as you just wrote it:

Click 'Continue' to begin making your goal SMARTER.

S = Specific > Type

"S" stands for Specific, and has four parts to it. The first part is Type.

Here is your goal from the previous screen:

Below, do the following:

1. Adjust your Goal if needed.
2. Enter the type of activity you will do to reach your goal.
3. Add higher end goals if applicable. If there are none, leave those fields blank.

Note: If your goal has more than 1 type of activity, don't worry. After this Wizard teaches you how to create one, you'll be able to add up to 2 more activities by editing your goal.

S = Specific > Frequency

The second part of Specific is Frequency--HOW OFTEN you will do the type of activity that will lead to reaching your goal.

For example, in the case of Grandpa wanting to lose 15 pounds where he decided that the type of activity is riding his bike, specified FREQUENCY means how often he is going to ride his bike. Riding once a week would likely not help him lose 15 pounds in a reasonable timeframe, if at all. And riding 3 times a day might not be practical...then again maybe it is. So let's say Grandpa decides he will ride 3 times per week. He has now added specificity to his action item in terms of FREQUENCY.

Now think about your Activity TYPE:

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

How often do you need to do that activity to reach your goal?

Enter the FREQUENCY with which you will you engage in the behavior.

(type a number in the first field)

S = Specific > Intensity

The third part of Specific is HOW INTENSELY you will do the type of activity each time.

Grandpa is going to ride his bike 3 times per week. But is he going to coast most of the time or meander, or will he pedal the entire time? And with what effort?

Let's say Grandpa decides he wants to ride the full 30 minutes at least going 12 miles per hour. That is INTENSITY specific.

Sometimes an activity or action item doesn't lend itself to intensity of that kind. In such cases you may find that assigning it a qualitative standard works better. For instance, suppose that your activity is to call 5 new people per day. What would be the "intensity" with which you perform that call? Well, perhaps you decide that quality standard is your tone of voice and enthusiasm. So you decide to specify that each call will be done with a smile on your face and a smile in your voice.

Now you can specify an intensity level for your activity. Think about your Activity TYPE, your action item that will lead to your Debut Goal. You've already decided how often you intend to do that activity.

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

Now determine the intensity or quality standard.

(Enter a number, then a rate, such as "mph". If the intensity is not a quantity value, such as "12 mph", then leave both fields blank. This specific factor of Intensity will be treated as a "on/off" value, meaning you either performed to the standard or didn't.)

S = Specific > Duration

The fourth and final part of Specific is for HOW LONG you will do the type of activity each time.

So in the case of Grandpa, we know he is going to ride his bike 3 times a week. But each time he goes out riding, how long will he ride for? This is duration. Five minutes of riding surely won't be enough to lose weight. Two hours at a time might be too much. So he needs to indicate how long he plans to ride his bike so that he can reach his goal.

So let's say he decides he wants to ride for 30 minutes each time he rides. That is DURATION specific.

Now you can specify duration for your activity. Think about your Activity TYPE that will lead to your goal. You've already decided how often and at what intensity you need to do that activity to reach your goal.

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

Now specify the duration for each time you do the activity. Usually, this is in minutes or hours.

Summary of S = Specific

You just completed the "S" in SMARTER Goals by getting specific about your activity in terms of Type, Frequency, Duration, and Intensity.

Don't worry, the remaining letters in SMARTER go much more quickly!

So now your goal and action item should look something like this example:

Grandpa's Goal: Become more healthy by losing 15 pounds.

Activity: Ride my bike 3 times each week for 30 minutes, at 12 mph

Here is what yours looks like:

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

If you want to make any adjustments to your goal or activity, click the Previous button to return to those screens.

Up next is the "M" in SMARTER.

M = Measurable

When it comes to measurability, we avoid the mistake of pinpoint goals by using a RANGE of values. This keeps you from stopping after reaching your goal, but also keeps you from quitting after a short while due to your goal being out of reach.

Grandpa's current goal to "Lose 15 pounds" is a pinpoint goal.

If he changes it to a range of, say, 10-25 lbs, he makes it more likely to not give up.

FREQUENCY: Instead of 3 times/week, he makes it a range of 2-4 times per week

DURATION: Instead of 30 minutes each time, he sets a range goal of 20-40 min

INTENSITY: Instead of 12mph, he sets it at 10-15 mph

Think about the kind of range that would work well for your goal.

Decide if your goal is the kind that has a measurable quantity (such as "Read 40 books"), as opposed to a binary goal that is either complete or not completed (such as "Visit France"). If it has a numeric value, then enter a range for your goal.

A = Attainable

Attainability has to do with incremental improvement: How can you be one step better than where you are today?

For instance, in Grandpa's case of a range of 10-25 pounds to lose, how long might it take him to become 10 pounds lighter? Is there a chance that his progress might be slow enough to discourage him?

However, if he makes his low range attainable by asking what would be one step better than today, he will see success sooner and have more motivation to continue.

So perhaps he adjusts his range goal to be 3-25 pounds. Now he can more quickly get "in the money."

Look at your own goal's range and determine if the low end is quickly achievable. (If your goal does not have a range, then this question is not applicable and you can continue to the next step.)

R = Relevant

In SMARTER goals, the power of relevancy is two-fold: not only should the activity be connected to the goal and to its higher goals, but the goal should be meaningful to you. If you took the Life Dimension Survey and reflected on your desires and vision at the beginning of this Goal Wizard, then you likely derived a meaningful goal.

But this step gives you another opportunity to make sure. Look at your goal and activity again with an eye toward Relevancy.

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

T = Timebound

We only perform to deadlines. Give yourself a deadline for your goal and for your activity (action item).

For instance, Grandpa has a goal of losing 3-25 lbs. He makes his goal timebound by saying he wants to hit the top range of his goal in 3 months.

Now make your goal time bound.

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

E = Evaluate

Evaluation refers to the ongoing self-review of your progress -- assessing how well you are doing on your activities (action items) that will lead to achieving your goal.

You should evaluate both your effort and the goal and adjust either one as needed.

You should evaluate Daily (2-5min), Weekly (10-15min), Monthly/Quarterly (15-30min), Annually (0.5-2hrs), depending on the timeframe and frequency of your goal and action items.

For instance, Grandpa's goal is to ride his bike 3 times per week to reach his goal in 3 months. So he decides he will evaluate his effort and goal as follows:

Daily: Each night before I go to bed

Weekly: Each Sunday morning

Quarterly: 3 months from now, which is goal deadline

Yearly: n/a (not applicable)

Here is your goal:

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

Now schedule when you'll evaluate your effort toward your goal. Note that your weekly evaluations are automatically scheduled on Sunday. This means your 5-star rating for each activity will be available on Sunday.

Note: your quarterly and annual evaluations will be automatically scheduled, if applicable, based on your start date.

R = Record

Record means to write it down. The key here is to KEEP IT SIMPLE!

To keep it simple, put it in checklist form and put it on your calendar.

Here is what you record:

• Activity (checklist & calendar)
• Evaluations (calendar)
• Achievement Celebration (calendar)

Below is how Grandpa recorded his bike riding goal:

In your case, your calendar and checklist for activities and evaluations is built into this My SMARTER Goals app, which looks like this:

All you need to do now is record the final part of your goal. Remember, your goal looks like this:

My Goal:

Type of Activity:

Record the final part of your goal now by scheduling the activity for your goal: which days, at what time, and starting when.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You just made your goal SMARTER.

In other words, you have made it much more likely that you will achieve your goal. Every step you have completed in this process makes you that much more COMMITTED to your goal. You have put the odds of success in your favor!

Your SMARTER goal has now been created and can be found in your My SMARTER Goals app, which you will see upon exiting this Goal Wizard. It will look something like this:

You will be able to edit your goal and evaluate your performance and progress on your goal.

Remember, Sixth Dimension is all about goal achievement, not merely goal setting. So don't stop here.

The other things that will make you fully committed to doing what it takes to reach your goal are:

• initiating social support and accountability (via phone coaching)
• graduating from Sixth Dimension Academy
• engaging with weekly live coaching
• using your High Performance Journal every day

You have completed the Goal Wizard and may now exit.