Setting Smart Goals

A short while ago, I began setting smart goals for the future. Or at least, that is what I thought I was doing.

I had 3 month goals, 1 year goals, 3 year goals and 5 year goals. Immediately after writing down my goals, instead of pursuing a single one of them, I dropped out completely and didn’t do anything at all for a few weeks. Inspired? Clearly not!

Setting Smart Goals - What was wrong?

The goals that I had set for myself did not resonate with me. They fitted in perfectly with the plans I had formulated in my mind and with where I saw myself headed at that point in time, but that was clearly not what I really wanted as the list just didn’t excite me at all.

So I withdrew and did nothing at all to pursue anything on that list.

Instead of pursuing my list of goals, I spent time thinking over what I really wanted to do with my life. Since my current list of goals didn’t inspire me then I was clearly moving in the wrong direction. This upset and confused me. If I wasn't already on the right path, then what WAS the right path? What was my passion?

So I went back to basics.

Setting Smart Goals: What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

I thought about what my younger self wanted to be when she grew up. And the answer was: an actress, a singer, a model, a mix of all three. I wanted to be on stage! I wanted to be in movies! I wanted to be performing all over the world, I wanted to be a performing artist.

So why didn’t I go for gold?

I didn't go for it because of fear. In fact, I was so fearful that I barely acknowledged even to myself that that was what I really wanted.

I did a little of this and a little of that, but never in a focused enough manner to achieve real success.

I did a bit of acting, a bit more singing, I performed a bit here and there, did a bit of modeling.

However, because of the competitiveness of these fields and my fear of failure, I was always too quick to settle for something else that seemed easier, that didn’t require me to put myself out there quite as much.

Whenever I did flex my courage muscles and go for something I really wanted, I always succeeded. When I mustered the courage to walk into a top modeling agency in Cape Town a few years ago and ask them to represent me, I was rewarded with being signed up right away.

Unfortunately that seemed to use up all the confidence that I had saved up, leaving me without any left over for castings. The result was that I didn’t land that many assignments. But, instead of working on my confidence, I decided that I didn’t really want to model, anyway.

Over the years I used my courage infrequently and when I did, I nearly always got the role or the gig and would do a great job of it, but instead of going on to bigger and better things, I would just kind of let it slide and hide out for a while again.

I love writing, but it just isn’t enough to be ALL that I do. I also love singing and performing my own material, but even that isn’t enough to be ALL that I do either. I want to be acting in movies, acting on stage, performing in musical theater, involved in numerous creative projects, continuously, and doing a bit of writing on the side.

Setting Smart Goals - A New and Improved Set Of Goals

So I sat down and wrote down some new goals. In my 3 month goals column, I wrote that I needed to be performing on stage within 3 months.

Setting Smart Goals: When your goals are in alignment with what you REALLY want, you begin to manifest them INSTANTLY!

So barely 24 hours after writing out my new set of goals I auditioned for the part of Honey in ‘Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf’ - a GREAT part, a part that I can really get into, and I GOT IT! So I could place a great big tick next to one of my goals, and this happened almost INSTANTLY!

I am so inspired, so excited. I have always known what I wanted to do, deep down, yet my fear of failure, the fear that maybe I wouldn’t be ABLE to be that person that I wanted to be, kept me from fully going after my dreams. So, while I occasionally went for something I wanted, I mostly chose the safe route, the route with the least risk of criticism or rejection.

I wrote my book because I had a story to tell, but I don't have any particular inspiration to write a follow up. I want to be a successful actress and performer, and so that’s what I’m doing from now on.

What are you hiding from? Do your goals inspire you? Are you itching to take action and achieve your dreams? If not, then maybe it’s time to find some new dreams.

Setting Smart Goals: Why Is Goal Setting Important?

We can always have what we want, but NOT if we haven’t acknowledged what we want.

We can’t hit a target we can’t see! Get clear about what you want, tell everyone, write it down, begin setting smart goals that resonate with YOU.

Don’t ever water down your goals because you’re afraid you might be aiming too high, or because you're afraid people will mock you, or tell you you're not good enough to achieve them. You will never achieve a goal if it is so secret that you barely even acknowledge it to yourself.

You CAN have everything you want, but only if you’re very clear about what exactly that is. And if your dreams don’t excite you, thrill you and motivate you, then it’s not your dream, it’s someone else’s dream.

Go back to basics, what do you want to be when you grow up?