TRANSCRIPT

You have probably heard of the concept of 'SMART Goals' before.

SMART stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Why I am not a fan of SMART goals...

You may be surprised to hear that I am not a fan of SMART goals, but I'm really not! I am not a fan of the concept of SMART goals for a few very good reasons...

Firstly, SMART goals tend to be - by their very nature - very numbers oriented - 'Get 50,000 pageviews by August', 'Double my Instagram followers by Q2'. And, as I've explained already, these types of goals tend to be plucked out of the air at random... and not necessarily the things that are actually going to get you to your Big Picture Goals - which is what you really want.

Secondly, these types of goals are - paradoxically - not very 'achievable'. What I mean by that is, while I can do lots of things to influence how many pageviews I get, I can't actually magic 50,000 pageviews into existence.

Thirdly, because they are not things you can actually 'do', it's very easy to set this type of goal - give yourself a great big pat on the back for having checked 'Set SMART Goals' off your to do list, put them in a drawer somewhere, and then not actually 'do' anything practical to achieve them.

And finally, for all the above reasons, they can be quite demotivating... August rolls round and you've not hit 50,000 pageviews... or you have but you are not actually any closer to what you really want, which is your Big Picture Goals.

Why I AM a fan of SMART MITs...

What I am a fan of, however, is SMART MITs!

I believe making your MITs SMART is a truly brilliant idea.

Let me give you an example, which will hopefully illustrate why.

Let's say your MIT for Month 1 is 'Write an ebook'.

Let's make that SMART...

• Specific: Write, edit and design an ebook on 'How to start beekeeping'.
• Measurable: Write all the copy, edit all the copy, design the ebook - the ebook should be completely finished and ready to launch by the end of the month.
• Achievable: 1 month is easily enough time to write, edit and design an ebook, and I know enough about the topic to write a really good book on 'How to start beekeeping'. (I don't, by the way, this is just an illustration!)
• Relevant: This is relevant to my Big Picture Goal of wanting to earn a full time income on my blog while only working part time, because it's the first step in my product ladder... Next month I will publish, launch and promote my new book. Later in the year I will be creating my full Beekeeping course - this ebook will eventually be my tripwire offer and I will build an evergreen sales funnel to join the ebook tripwire and full course together. Eventually this will be completely automated and run passively, so I will be able to work less and earn more!
• Time-bound: I will have written, edited and designed my ebook by the end of Month 1.

Why SMART MITs work...

I hope you can easily see how much better it is to make your MITs SMART!

Your MITs are things you can actually 'do'. A MIT is something you actually have control over. And because it's something you can 'do', you are much more likely to actually do it!

Because a MIT is something you can actually 'do', you can also much more easily see whether or not a MIT is achievable. Is 50,000 pageviews achievable by August... who knows? But is it possible to write, edit and design an ebook in 1 month - absolutely! (I've actually done it in less than 1 week before, so 1 month is a cakewalk!)

Your MITs are also based on your Big Picture Goals, making them much more relevant... you can draw a direct line from your Big Picture Goals to your MITs, and so this is much more motivating - you can easily see why you are doing each MIT and how it fits into the bigger picture.

Because of all this, SMART MITs are super motivating. You know it's completely achievable, you have a clear deadline, you'll know exactly whether you've done it or not by the deadline, you have complete control over whether it gets done or not, and you know how it fits into the bigger picture... meaning it's much more likely you'll actually achieve your MIT. And getting your MIT done will give you a huge sense of achievement... which in turn will give you a huge amount of motivation to get the next month's MIT done... and the next months! It becomes a virtuous circle, which ultimately leads to reaching and smashing right through your goals.

I really cannot underline this enough... by focusing on the things you can DO you'll be much more likely to achieve your goals than if you focus on the goals themselves. And that's why it makes sense to set SMART MITs not SMART goals!

Assignment

Take a look at your MIT for Month 1 and use the advice in this unit to make that MIT SMART!