It seems like everywhere I look when it comes to personal development and/or work, I am being told to make SMART goals. You might have heard of it – SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-Based. Maybe it’s just me, but I find goal setting incredibly boring, especially at work. It already blocks my creativity and thinking by having to follow someone else’s idea of how to set a goal. Of course, there may be a time and place for them, and they probably do serve a purpose, but I am not a big fan of the SMART goals.
Something that I really have enjoyed hearing about recently is what I would call incremental change. Here, the focus is on becoming and/or doing a little bit better as time goes on. The thinking is that even with a 1 or 5 percent improvement you can see changes. You may not measure it exactly as a certain percentage of improvement, but you know are doing better. An example would be exercise. Say you work out for 15 minutes a day 3 days a week – what if you increased that to 20 minutes a day 3 days a week? Without having to do specific measurements, we understand that this change can lead to greater health. Again, having measurable goals can be important to demonstrate change, but there are things that don’t require such rigid measurement to see an improvement.
I also like the idea of incremental change because it encourages me to think about what I can do now instead of being paralyzed by a big goal that seems overwhelming. All of the little steps can add up to something big, so what little steps can you or I take today to show improvement? Whether it is related to health, work, hobbies, etc., I encourage you to see what small changes you can make to improve your life.