Your PACT goals versus SMART goals

By Maryann Baldwin, The Works Business Coach and SBDC Counselor
Most of us by now are well familiar with annual goal setting, and some of us have put the SMART goals approach to work (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound), but who has considered a PACT Goal?
Yeah, that was a new one to us as well, but now that we’ve dived in on the details, we’re ready to add a PACT Goal to our SMART Goal. Yeah, that’s a lot of goals, but consider this:
A PACT Goal is this: Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous and Trackable and we're intrigued!
Yeah, kind of geeky, but isn’t this exactly what we need to make those SMART Goals happen? The actual "doing" is where SMART goals can fall apart. We know where we want to go, but what kind of tasks have we put in place to stay on track throughout each month, quarter and year to make sure we make it to the specific point we’ve identified when we’re being SMART? And how exactly are we tracking that?
Consider pairing a PACT Goal - your output - with your SMART Goal - your outcome - for a higher rate of success with your goals. Here’s an example:
Your SMART Goal says “In order to grow my business, I will launch my product sales on my website for my retail business with 30 products for sale online by March 31st, 2024.” That’s pretty SMART - we know exactly what we want to create, we know exactly what the website sale page will offer, we are confident we have the time to make it happen, and we have a deadline.
So how does this benefit from a PACT Goal?
Here’s a draft of the related PACT Goal: “In order to launch product sales on my website by March 31st, I will create a list of tasks I will need to complete in order to make this happen, I will review this list daily, and I will complete 2-3 of those tasks each week”
Now, not only is this business owner committed to making this goal happen, she has a commitment to weekly action to stay on track: we know the Purpose, there’s a list of Actions, there’s a Continuous routine and ritual to span the quarter, and she can track her progress against these tasks each week.
So grab one of your SMART Goals for 2024 and partner it up with a PACT Goal. No doubt, there’s still plenty of work to do, but committing to routine action to take you to the finish line will help you stay on track and avoid any last minute scrambles.
Share your new knowledge about PACT Goals and let us know how this approach works for you as you commit to Be More in ‘24!
Still working on those 2024 goals? The Works can help with our affordable coaching option. Give Coach Maryann a call at 319-573-1955 or set up an appointment for a Discovery Call by linking to her calendar. Your discovery call is always complementary!
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