Skip navigation
There's a strong positive relationship between how much people learn on the job and how much they love their job. Employees who score high on survey questions like "I will have to learn new skills to achieve my assigned goals for this year" have higher scores on questions such as:
According to a survey I conducted last week (of more than 5,000 leaders) only 22% of people say they’re very satisfied with their current position. The other 78% are divided between advancing a little or advancing far beyond their current position.
If you’ve had a job for any length of time, you’ve undoubtedly set a SMART Goal (most commonly defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound). But while everyone knows how to set a SMART Goal, what most people don’t know is that they could really be hurting how they feel about their job.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, CEO or middle manager, virtually everyone has to create (and present) business plans. And while there are literally thousands of business plan templates available, they will all fail if you don’t answer these three critical questions (that you might have never heard before) when you’re creating and presenting your business plan.
If you’re having trouble finding time for your big goals, you’re not alone. We recently asked over 1,500 leaders: “Did you successfully complete your goals for today?” and provided three responses to choose from: “Yes,” “No,” and “I have no idea.” The most common response was “I have no idea.” The problem is that too many leaders aren’t sure what their goals really are.
Ever since I wrote the book HARD Goals, which is about goal setting, I've gotten a bit of a reputation as a guy who hates SMART goals. I think it's maybe a touch unfair, but let me tell you where it comes from. We did a study to look at goal setting involving over 4,000 people. . .
If you’re not working on the right projects, heading in right directions and marshaling your best resources in the right places, a great career filled with growth and all the things that make you feel personally fulfilled is not going to happen. But it’s largely up to you, and not your boss or the organization, to change that.
What does it mean to have an extraordinary career? I see a lot of people getting it wrong. Some are too hung up on the technical aspects of career. In all my studies, the people who have great careers, it’s not because of technical aptitude. It’s entirely possible to have great skills and still be unfulfilled or even miserable.
New Year’s resolutions are practically an institution. Maybe your big goal for 2016 is to lose weight, quit smoking, work out, advance your career, start a business, double sales revenue, run a marathon, go back to school, save more money, etc. 
Every company on earth has set SMART Goals. But does that mean they're effective? Not if the disturbing research we've done on goal setting is any indication. In this video, Leadership IQ Founder Mark Murphy talks about some potential problems with SMART Goals.
