These goals have been superseded by my 90-day goals which are better aligned to my 2-year and 5-year vision
We all know and love SMART goals: the notion of defining meaningful goals that are both relevant and achievable for our development whether that be academically, professionally or personally. When used correctly they can be a very powerful tool but only if the recipient buys into them, owns them and actively does something with them. To help foster this behaviour I prefer a slight modification to the traditional SMART goal to produce the SMARTER goal as follows:
- Specific — woolly goals are almost impossible to deliver. Being specific, very specific will significantly increase the accomplishment rate.
- Measurable — measures allow you to gauge when the goal has been achieved. Being measurable moves the goal from the subjective to the objective.
- Achievable — look at the ‘how’ to ascertain whether the goal is achievable or not.
- Relevant — ensure the goal is relevant to the aspirations of the person concerned. If the goal is not relevant it most likely will not be accomplished nor useful.
- Time-bound — I’m a big fan of the phrase “Deadlines get things done”. Setting a deadline for a goal makes it real: without a deadline a goal is simply a pipe dream. Time-bound, as I’ve recently learned, also covers the time investment to achieve. Without an investment of time from the individual the goal will not be worked on.
- Emotional attachment — ownership and engagement are vital to achieving a goal, this is where emotional attachment comes in. If the individual is not invested the goal will not be worked on.
- Reward — Successes should be celebrated and the reward here gives the incentive for achieving a goal. This doesn’t need to be big. It can be as simple as a latte from your favourite coffee shop
In recent years I’ve been encouraged to write my own goals in the past tense, looking back to today having achieved them.
My Goals — Development Module
| Goal 1 | Ideation and Creativity |
| Specific | I have improved my ideation and creativity skills… |
| Measurable | …by completing 4 (stretch goal 6) game jams. |
| Achievable | Two game jams were part of the Development Practice module and the others were short, weekend events for game developers with little little game jam experience. |
| Relevant | Completing these game jams has really helped me to produce better games by forcing me to step out of my comfort zone, take more risk and experiment with new genres and ideas. |
| Time-bound | I managed to accomplish this goal by setting aside 4 weekends from October to now and have managed to exceed my personal deadline of the end of 2020. |
| Emotional attachment | Achieving this goal was very important. It was the first step towards achieving my ultimate goal of launching and running my own development studio. |
| Reward | Designer latte from the Starbucks secret menu |
| Goal 2 | Publish first game |
| Specific | I have just published my first game. (Stretch goal: I have just published my first revenue generating game) |
| Measurable | It is now available on the internet for others to (buy,) download and play. |
| Achievable | I took the best idea from the game jams I participated in and elaborated on it further to produce a (commercially) viable product I was then able to publish. |
| Relevant | Launching this game has helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the downstream tasks, post development. I will use this knowledge and experience to build bigger and better games in the future |
| Time-bound | It took a lot of evenings and weekends, and even a few days of my annual leave to achieve but I’ve done it. My first game was published before the end of 2020. |
| Emotional attachment | My ultimate goal of building and running my own game studio is starting to become a reality. |
| Reward | Afternoon tea with my wife and children at the Elvetham Hotel. |
To-Do List
Publish post with my 10-year, 5-year and 2-year goals
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
