The article I have chosen to write about is from Forbes, titled “People Who Set SMART Goals Are Less Likely to Love Their Job”, written by Mark Murphy. The article states that “When we look at the very definition of SMART Goals (especially the achievable and realistic parts), the first of those choices is a pretty good proxy for whether someone sets SMART Goals. For people who are aiming for big dreams that venture into new territories, or organizations that truly want to achieve greatness, especially in a dynamic environment, Smart goals are often inadequate, and sometimes detrimental” (Murphy). I will use this article to acknowledge the fact that everyone knows how to set a SMART Goal, and that most people don’t know they could really be hurting how they feel about their job.
We often set achievable goals both inside and outside of work. Currently, around two-thirds of people say they strive to attain goals that are somewhat realistic and achievable. Although that seems to be the option most people choose, it loses on a much more important issue. Between reading chapter six of the course book and following the lectures, we’ve all been taught the SMART acronym where goals are supposed to be specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented and time-bound. However, some people believe that setting achievable goals weaken our motivation to pursue them.
Only 29% of workers who pursue achievable and realistic goals love their job, but a far more substantial 40% of difficult and audacious goal setters love their job. The kind of person who is likely to set goals that are difficult or audacious is also the type of person who is more likely to love their job. This may be relatively due to the workplace actuality that people who chase after big goals are more likely to end up successful. An employee’s extent of success is typically a big factor in determining how much they’ll love their jobs.
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One of Murphy’s studies, titled “Are SMART Goals Dumb?”, followed 4,182 employees from 397 different organizations to see what kind of goal setting processes actually help employees achieve great things. Among dozens of findings, he discovered that “only 15% of workers strongly agree that their goals will help them achieve great things. And only 13% of employees strongly agree that their goals this year will help them maximize their full potential” (Murphy). When you set SMART goals, it makes you realize that you have to sit up and work on achieving them.
To reiterate the points brought up throughout the paper, 40% of bold and difficult goal setters love their job while merely 29% of people who seek achievable and realistic goals love their job. There’s definitely more to having a job you love than just setting goals that are difficult to achieve, but there’s no excuse not to try. Working toward SMART goals can encourage you along the way, but they can seem like a stop sign that makes you fall short of your full potential. Setting goals that are too easy will not move people to achieve anything beyond their minimum potential. They fail to reach the chance for growth, and they will never experience what they might have been able to achieve if the goal had been more challenging.
