Your story, your brand. Pt. 1

Welcome to Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. I'm your host Terry Baylor along with Ralph Owens. And today, we're gonna discuss SMART goals. The components and intricacies that make up SMART goals and we're going to provide an anecdotal experience on how to build a program to execute on those goals. Enjoy the show.

And we are live.

Hello everybody. Hello world, back again. Yep, super excited about the topic today. I believe it is, it's one that's looking up. It's one that is inspirational.

I know going through it, man, I started to get motivated. I'm like, let me write some goals. Let me redo mine. But yeah, super excited about it. This is something that we all have to go through.

We're in corporate America and I've seen it done different ways. I've seen it done where it's pushed down from the top. And let's just follow this format. I've seen it where total control and the ability to write what you think your year is going to look like. Most this is an evolution to goal setting that I've been exposed to.

And I kind of like this a little better actually. It is an agile style framework for writing goals. So let's not write this static document that we have to go back over and adjust to make it fit what's happening. In essence, you plan your goals in alignment with the sprints that you have going on. So a really interesting way to do that.

We're in a first evolution of that. So partly we're trying to figure it out. But as you plan your work, that becomes your goal. So a real interactive in the moment, real fresh kind of perspective on it. And the beauty of negotiating what that success is based on what is currently happening.

So anyway, but I believe this framework graph that we're going to talk about today will help facilitate any format as it pertains to setting your goals. Mainly I would say because it's focused around you knowing you. I love what we've come up with additionally because even in my mind, right. And setting goals traditionally it's been all about what does the company want. Right.

And we've been a sidebar to setting goals. So what do you, you know, what's your thought on that?

Yeah, that's that's a great point. You're right. You know, setting goals was always something that they told us to do. Right. It was something that was part of the HR process.

And, I think as we've evolved in our careers, we realized that that goal setting event is actually an asset to us if we utilize it correctly. We can use it to transmit the value to the organization that we actually bring. And to your point, I love that term you use that negotiated success. Right? You know, setting those goals up front with your leader and, making sure that you both agree that this is what success looks like.

Now it gives you a target, right, that you can work towards every day. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't something that I was crazy about in the beginning of my career because it was just like, oh man, I gotta do this again.

But, as I've, as I've evolved, I've learned that it becomes, an interesting part of your story. So, yeah, looking forward to digging into it.

No. I I totally and so just on that, right, I'm sure we're gonna hit on it a little more in that you know, similar to a statement you made before, right, about documentation. You're gonna be happy you had it when you need it. And here and I don't want to jump too far ahead but documentation is the key to crystallizing who you are, what you've done, where you've been, where you're going. Right?

Write the vision and make it plain. That's documentation.

That's right.

Even God God is interested in documentation.

Yes. Is. So true.

You know what I'm saying? So man, write it down. Write it down. Anyway, so let's get into the first part of this. Talking about goals and we've heard this term.

I remember the first time I heard this term, I didn't know what it was. And the guy was like, Terry, these are good, but

can you write some smart goals? I'm thinking, I think these are pretty good.

Yeah.

But when I dug into it and researched it, there is a framework for smart goals. Ralph, I think you do such a great job of kinda walking through and and and explaining those kinda things. You might you mind hitting on what, you know, the specifics or SMART goals are or what how do you wanna how do you wanna do it?

Sure. Sure. I'll jump in there. So SMART goals, the word SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Right?

The reason why these goals are desired above just any goal is because, it it's very clear in its objective. It's selected because it's something that can be achieved is achievable. It's relevant. Right? If you are a baker and you make a goal to learn how to dribble a basketball, that may not be relevant to what you do.

Right? You have to have a relevant goal and then it has to be time bound so that there's a beginning, date, and an end date to it. The these this is what comprises a SMART goal. So, Terry, you wanna give an example? We can go give an example of each one.

Like, so specific. What would you what would you label as a specific SMART goal?

So so so you guys know. Right? I love I love sports. Right? So, I mean, I use this with my children.

Right? And so I'll give you an example. I think it was Liz who I first used the SMART goal with. So a SMART goal is I want to hit have a batting average of 300 by the end of the year. Right.

So that's a that's a that's a is very specific for this season. I want to have a batting average of 300. So how how do we measure that goal? Well, it's very easy to measure this goal, right? You have so many at bats, right?

So let's say we have 100 at bats. I only need 30 hits out of a 100 at bats. Now just on an athletic standpoint, right? Most jobs you cannot be at 30% and be considered good. Right?

If you're hitting like three fifty, you're like amazing. So anyway, that's a very specific goal. It's very measure you know, how do we measure it? Right? It's it's and so we've we've said, right?

We, you know, we have a 100 at bats and then we have, we need 30 hits to achieve that. Is it achievable? Well, looking at my talent level, looking at what I do, my experiences, my training. Yes, this is well within my means of being able to achieve. In that measurable, we may define, right?

This is if you hit 300, that's going to meet the goal. If you go below 300, that's going to be below the goal. So just think about this as we're thinking about work. Right. But if we hit above 300, let's say we categorize, if you hit 50 points above 300, then you've far exceeded the goal.

You see what I'm saying? And then we're going to say, is this a relevant? Is it a relevant to to to rap to your point earlier? Is this a relevant goal? Yes.

To softball, this is a real relevant goal because we can look at history to say that persons who hit 300 are a benefit and a value to the team. And then so time based, right? Time based is going to be for this season. Whatever that year was, let's say my freshman year, my sophomore year, my first summer league. So it's a time bound.

Now, the beauty of this SMART goal is we can really dig down into it and start to now create tasks that help us drive to get to that goal. We're gonna create a program to help drive to get to that goal. So for example, in order for me to meet this goal, what am I gonna do from a practical standpoint, an everyday execution? Here's what this looks like. I'm gonna go to the cage at least three times a week to hit.

Right? I'm going to hit at home every day off the tee. I'm gonna take at least 75 cuts off the tee every day. Another aspect of that is I'm gonna condition at least three times a week. I'm going to do some form of physical training that involves cardio as well as strength training.

So we're being real specific on how we're going to get there. Then additionally, I'm going to do some mental work, right? I'm going to do some, I'm going to visualize myself executing on, what I expect to do. I'm going to, do mental exercises on pitch count, pitch selection. Right.

And I'm going to write down that exercise. Okay. On a one, two count, a runner on second, this is what I look to do. Right? So we can be very specific on how we're going to execute the day to day task in order to meet the bigger, smart goal.

Does that make sense?

That's good, man. That man, that is really good.

Thank you for being with us today on Leadership Sovereignty. Stay connected with us on X, formerly known as Twitter, and on Instagram by searching for Leadership Sovereignty. And just like this podcast, let's all collectively grow as we go. God bless.