Both empirical evidence for psychological research and my hypothesis as to how your reticular activating system works lead us to suppose that goal setting is useful. Therefore, if we're going to do it, we want to do it as well as possible. So what are the criteria for well formed goals? I'm guessing that a fair number of people viewing this video will have come across the idea of smart goals. And there are some smart people who have come up with smarter goals. But what you're going to get from me is the smartest goals of all a framework of eight criteria for particularly well formed goals.

So let's start with S for specific maybe Sure your goals are know it when you see it. recognize it when you feel it. recognize it when you hear it specificity. Make your goals as specific as you can. And many people will use the M of smart for measurable but I don't. Because specific means measurable as well.

Measurable is just one way that your goals can be specific. So quantify your goals as much as you can. That way, you're very, very clear what you're after and what you're not after. The end of smartest stands for meaningful. What's the one question that children constantly ask their parents and teachers and carers? is why, why, why, why?

Why is a search for meaning and we don't lose that when we grow up to be adults. We just learn socially to repress it some of the time. But that doesn't mean we don't want to know the answer to why. And therefore, if our goals aren't meaningful to us, then they won't be sufficiently motivating. So, motivation to achieve goals requires meaning we have to know what's in it for us if we achieve them. So it's no good setting a girl that I want a fantastic sports car.

You have to know why you want a fantastic sports car. And usually it's gonna be something about your lifestyle, or your image, or the fun you'll be able to have with it. And when you can connect the thing that is your goal with the reasons why you want it, that will be far more motivating. The a of smartest stands for action oriented. It is no use having goals that are dependent on Good luck, good fortune, or the actions of other people who can't control set goals that are dependent upon the choices and the actions that you take that puts you in control of achieving your goals, which means that there will be less disappointment if you don't achieve them. If you know that you put in the work.

And if they happen to, if they do take place, if they do occur and you, you achieve your goals, then you've got a real reason to feel proud because you've been instrumental in them happening. Whereas if you set a goal to win the lottery, what has been your contribution to that you bought a ticket. It's just luck. I'm not saying you'd be disappointed to win the lottery, but there'd be no source of pride. But of course, just buying a ticket isn't enough to make you a multi millionaire. If you desperately want to be a multi millionaire, you've got to take action.

The Art of smartest stands for responsible and I'm not gonna tell you what your morality or your ethical code should be. But here's the thing, if your goals conflict with your own internal values, Then there are only two possibilities. The first is that you achieve them. But because of the conflict, they make you unhappy. The second is because your brain knows that there's a conflict it will subvert any attempts you make to achieving your goals, you will fail in your goals which will leave you kind of happy but also disappointed that you failed in your goals. Let me give you an example of a friend of mine, a woman who desperately wanted to travel the world that was a goal to travel the world.

And she complained a time and time again that she was making no progress towards his goal. Why was she making no progress towards his goal? Because she had young children and her values her morality, her ethical code, call it what you like said, My daughter's come first. Of course they do. So she was getting miserable about not traveling as well, despite the fact that it was the right Not the wrong thing. When we looked at her goals, and realized that there was that responsibility conflict, we could solve it very easily.

By shifting a goal from I want to travel the world to I want to travel the world when my daughters have grown up. And then suddenly she was freed to go out and buy maps and start planning and my goodness me at the time, she had about 15 years to plan it before her daughters were old enough to the next the tea when the tea of smartest least the first T stands for towards choose goals that take you towards what you want, rather than away from what you don't want. And that sounds a bit odd but think about your reticular activating system. We discussed that in the previous video. Your reticular activating system is like one of those children's toys and if you program it with a square shaped hole, it will Look for a square shaped blog. If you don't want to feel unfit, then you're programming your reticular activating system with unfit and it looks for example, you unfit makes you feel miserably miserable every time you get a little bit out of breath, while your thighs ache when you're walking upstairs.

So if you struggle to figure out what you want, and you start articulating your goals in terms of what you don't want, I don't want to feel poor. I don't want to feel unfit. I don't want to feel out of control. Then ask yourself, what is the exact opposite of what you don't want that will lead you in the direction of what you do want. The E of smartest stands for exciting. Now why should you have exciting goals?

Well, because you can of course you can. You can have goals that excite you or you can have goals. Boy, you stiff. See, the thing is, you might experience Most people, when you first ask them about goals. They will tell you about the goals, they think they ought to have. Worse than that.

Some people will tell you the goals, they think that the people around them would think that they ought to have. So we start to live our lives, but other people don't do that. Nobody's going to live their life for you. So choose goals that excites you. And it doesn't matter if that means the goal is further off or high risk. Knowing what you want will allow your reticular activating system to find the opportunities for you an example of a friend of mine who wanted to be a wildlife photographer, but when I asked him about his goals, what he said was, I just like to be a, you know, a more senior accountant with my firm, but his eyes didn't light up and I knew that wasn't his real goal.

When I asked him what he really wanted, what would make him joyously happy if it were possible wildlife photographers what he said. Now, clearly, that would have meant leaving his family to train spending a lot of money on expensive equipment with a very uncertain future as to whether he could add some money, a lot of time away from home that wasn't responsible and would have conflicted. But just by knowing that by recognizing that his reticular activating system could all spot an advert in the local paper, for evening class in in nature photography, which he signed up for, and started to enjoy. And of course, now he's still an accountant. But wherever he goes, he takes his camera. He leaves early and if we spot something, he gets real joy and pleasure taking photographs.

And one of his children is interested in it too. Which gives them a family activity? Has it transformed his life? Yes, I believe in a genuine meaningful way. It has the S of smartest stands for supported. Yes, you need goals that are action oriented that is dependent on your effort.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't look for support from friends, colleagues, relatives who can help you. You shouldn't look for support from information sources like Internet and libraries. So when you start thinking about your goals, think about the support you need and where you can access it. And finally, time bound. Your Goals need to be time bound, otherwise, your brain will start working on them, recognizing you haven't reached them. It'll say to itself well, plenty of time.

Whereas if there is a deadline, we know that one of the most motivating time management tips of all is to work to a deadline. Let's face it, when your reticular activating system focuses on the word deadline, what's the word is boss dead. So, if you're going to set goals and you really should set goals, they will really benefit you. Make sure that they are specific. They are meaningful, they are action oriented, they are responsible. They are towards very exciting they're supported and you