Welcome back, dear reader! Today’s topic is an important one because I want you to be able to accomplish all of your wildest dreams. So let’s talk goal-setting. When you’re goal-setting for yourself (or in your career), it’s really important for you to understand if you are setting a fixed or a flexible goal, and why. In this article, I’ll explain the difference, so that you can better rack up those accomplishments. Let me know in the comments what goals you have – I’d love to hear about them! 🙌🏻

Fixed vs. Flexible Goals: What’s the Difference?

One of the most important things to understand in goal-setting is if your goal is a fixed one or a flexible one. Let me break down the difference.

Fixed goals are short-term goals, specifically put in place to reach a specific outcome by a certain date. These types of goals usually conclude a project. Examples could be moving offices, renovating a room in your home, producing a new short film, completing a product launch, etc. You get it. With fixed, short-term goals, you know exactly what needs to happen and when. You are focused on the destination, and you have complete control over every piece of the project.

Flexible goals lean more towards being ideal future situations; examples include “becoming” something, learning to play an instrument, or perhaps dropping those extra 20 pounds. What makes these types of goals flexible isn’t the outcome itself – it’s that we don’t necessarily control all the variables needed for completion. These types of goals are grander on a long-term scale, and it’s hard to put a finger on exactly when we’ll be done. Some people prefer to call them dreams, but I don’t feel that’s completely accurate, especially not if you are taking actionable steps towards making them a reality.

The Best Example? My Guitar Skills

Let me share one of my best examples of a flexible goal with you: my musicality. I’m currently learning how to play the guitar, and that is a flexible goal because I don’t have a specific deadline by which I need to finish. I’ll likely never really be “done” learning, and I don’t need to be. At what point will I be good enough at it? We don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. Because I’m practicing every day (i.e. taking actionable steps), it doesn’t qualify as a dream. Quite the opposite, in fact. I’m just approaching it with a more laid-back attitude. Becoming a good guitar-player is a fun idea, and I’m focused on the journey rather than the destination. We’re simply looking for improvement… not completion.

Not Meeting Your Goals? Misclassification Could Be Why.

If you’re not meeting your goals regularly, misclassification could be the reason why you’re having trouble. This happens a lot around New Years, when everyone is caught up in making resolutions. People will proclaim that they’re gonna learn a new skill or “get healthy” by the end of the year – when those goals aren’t actually specific enough to work. Those are simply loose, flexible goals, and while they’re fine to have, you’ll find yourself struggling as soon as you introduce a deadline like “the end of the year.”

For you to be able to meet a flexible goal by “the end of the year,” there’s more work to be done on it. You have to break it down, create a fixed goal with a specific outcome, and include measurable steps. That’s a whole different ball game. Don’t make the mistake of misclassifying your goals.

Turning Flexible Goals into Fixed using the S.M.A.R.T. Acronym

Can you take a flexible goal and turn it into a fixed one? Of course! Quite easily, actually! If we want to turn the above example of “getting healthy” into a fixed goal, we’d first have to be a bit more specific. What does “getting healthy” even mean? Does it mean eating better? Dropping weight? Building muscles? … All of the above? Ah yes, that would be a big flexible goal, but to make it specific, we’d have to focus on one puzzle piece first. To attempt everything at once would likely become way too overwhelming, and you’d quit within 5 days (as most “Resolutioners” do…). Specific goals need strategic anchoring.

Once specific enough, the goal would also have to become measurable (meaning you have a way to measure progress), achievable (meaning you are capable), realistic (meaning it’s physically possible), and time-bound (meaning it has a deadline). We refer to this as creating a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

Using this acronym, you can break down your bigger, loftier, flexible goals and turn them into projects. When you regularly do that, you’ll see that progress starts to happen fairly quickly.

What To Do When You’re Planning

When planning out your year (or next quarter), be specific around how you want to treat your goal-setting. Something helpful to do – whether you are making a simple new years resolution or doing more in-depth Quarterly Planning with us – is to immediately identify what type of goal you have written down. Is it something bigger that might take longer, like improving a skill? Do I want that to be flexible, or not? Do I really need a deadline around this? And how will I know when I’m “done?”

The desire to “get better at selling” is something we heard more than once at our last Quarterly Planning session. That’s a typical flexible goal. How will you make it specific? How will you know when you’re achieved it? By when? If you can create clarity and strategic anchoring around that, then you have yourself a fixed goal that’s a lot more achievable + much more likely to happen.

Release Expectations When Using Flexible Goals

Having flexible goals is fine – at times. We don’t always need to make our goals specific, but we do need to understand the consequences of that choice. My example – learning to play the guitar – is still a flexible goal, and I’ve kept it that way for a reason. I am so results-driven and focused in other areas of my life that I want something that’s more laid-back as a hobby. Simply “getting better” by practicing every day is good enough for me on this. I don’t have a show to rehearse for at the moment. I don’t need to play a specific chord progression by a certain date. And I’m OK with that.

When stating flexible goals, we have to be OK with releasing high (and specific) expectations. I can’t get mad at myself for not knowing how to play a specific song on the guitar by the end of the year… because that was never in question in the first place. I never set out to accomplish that. If I wanted to do that, I’d have to create a fixed goal around practicing that specific song for at least 30 minutes every day. I chose not to do that in this situation, and therefore I’ve released that expectation. If you’re OK with simply “improving” over time, it’s completely fine to use a flexible goal – just don’t forget to release expectations along with it, so you don’t get disappointed. It all comes back to misclassification otherwise.

Learn Specificity For Maximum Success

I hope this discussion on fixed vs. flexible goals has given you some things to think about when you’re planning out your life and business. Hopefully, you can see that if you’d like to accomplish specific goals for specific projects by specific dates, you need to break them down using the S.M.A.R.T. acronym, so that you can get clear on what needs to happen next. Strategic anchoring is key.

For more laid-back, flexible goals, suitable for what we might consider “hobbies” and “skill-building” in common areas of your life, go ahead and use flexible goals. Just know which one you’re dealing with, so that you avoid disappointment and maximize your accomplishments.

If you’d like to learn more about goal-setting and get clear on what need to happen next, join us in an upcoming Quarterly Planning session.

Featured Photo Courtesy of Ronnie Overgoor

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Caroline Guntur Organizing & Productivity Coach

Hi there! I’m Caroline, and I’m here to help you get organized and be more productive, so that you can live better and have time for what matters.

www.theswedishorganizer.com

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