Have you tried different goal-setting techniques but found that they don’t work consistently for you? Do you feel bad if you don’t achieve your set goals and then either stop doing goal setting or keep becoming more and more disheartened each time you set a goal? I have studied and tried many goal-setting techniques in my lifetime to achieve personal and business goals. The S.M.A.R.T. technique is the best one that I currently use and teach my students in The 5 Step Profit Plan Program™, but it is still not as effective as I want. Most people can not set goals properly because they use “all or nothing” goal-setting approaches. These approaches set people up for failure even before they begin.
That is why I have developed a powerful program that eliminates this major problem. Now you can not fail if you use The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ by Elke Clarke. You will even begin to achieve bigger and greater goals than you thought possible.
Introducing The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ by Elke Clarke
Why Popular Goal-Setting Techniques Set You Up For Failure
How do you usually set a goal? Most likely, you would use what I call the “all or nothing” approach to goal setting.
You set a target number or event and you either achieve it or you don’t. All or nothing. Win or lose. Succeed or fail. Feel great or feel defeated.
If you achieve your target number, then you feel great. You think you are a master at goal setting and promptly set another goal with the same high hopes of reaching it. You may even achieve your goal every time. But, how often does this really happen to you?
Most likely, you fail every so often with each new goal you set. Or the worst-case scenario is that you rarely or never achieve any of the goals you set.
If you don’t achieve your goals, you feel bad and start a dialogue in your head that only gets more and more negative.
The result is that you expect failure right from the start of your goal setting and are not on board to even try and reach your goal.
What is The S.M.A.R.T. Technique?
If you haven’t already heard about The S.M.A.R.T. technique, I will review it here.
It’s an acronym to help you remember the various components of how to set a goal using this technique.
The letters stand for “Specific” “Measurable” Achievable” “Realistic” and “Timely”.
The meaning of each word as it relates to goal setting is described below:
- Specific = Your goal should be specific and clearly defined
- Measurable = Your goal should have numbers, dates, or some sort of measurability
- Achievable = Your goal should be a stretch, but attainable based on your current skill set and knowledge
- Realistic = Your goal should be realistically possible and within your current resources
- Timely = Your goal should have a date or timeframe associated with it to know by when it must be achieved to be successful
Why The S.M.A.R.T. Technique is Not Enough
The S.M.A.R.T. technique is a great way to set your goal because it makes you clearly define it. It takes an “I wish” or an “I want” statement and makes you think about it more clearly. It forces you to write it out in a specific way. These details help your brain begin to visualize and conceptualize how you will be able to achieve your goal.
For example, you might set your goal as “I will earn $1K by August 1, 2019, by selling products online in my eCommerce store.” This is a great example of a super specific goal, based on The S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting technique.
The problem is that the target dollar value and the date are an “all or nothing” situation.
If you achieve this goal of 1K on August 2nd or you achieve $999 by August 1st, you have not achieved your goal.
By setting an absolute goal like this, if you do not achieve it exactly, you still feel like you have failed.
I’m here to tell you that you have NOT failed!!! But try as you might, you will still have these nagging feelings that you didn’t actually achieve your goal. That is why I have now developed The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™.
The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™
The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ goes beyond The S.M.A.R.T. technique and ensures that you meet your goal each time. It turns the “all or nothing” goal setting into a gradient of goal targets. Instead, you are going to set 4 target numbers to achieve your one goal.
Using the ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ you are guaranteed to always succeed.
The letters ERSD stand for each of the target goals that you will set: “Easy” “Reasonable” “Stretch” and “Dream”.
The target goal for each word in the acronym is described below:
- Easy = Set this goal to what you are currently achieving, with little or no extra effort.
- Reasonable = Set this goal to what you know you can confidently achieve with some effort and the right tools or training.
- Stretch = Set this goal to what you would really want to achieve, but you know you needed to put in a great deal of effort or even change the way you do things
- Dream = Set this goal to what you dream about. It’s the “if only I could achieve this I’d be overjoyed” type of goal
Once you have set these target numbers or actions, you can use the “Specific”, and “Measurable” aspects of The S.M.A.R.T. technique to further define ALL 4 of these targets.
Why The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ Guarantees Success
By setting all 4 of these target goals, “Easy” “Reasonable” “Stretch” and “Dream”, to achieve a certain goal, you will set yourself up for success.
Start by defining the “Easy” target and move up in order to the “Dream” goal target.
You know you will at least achieve the “Easy” goal because you only have to do little or no work to achieve it.
The description of the “Reasonable” goal prompts your mind to come up with an easy target that you can see yourself doing. That means you will most likely also achieve the “Reasonable” goal too. Either way, you will have achieved one or two targets that you set for yourself (the “Easy” and the “Reasonable”).
By doing small things and associating them with goals that you have achieved, your mind begins to like playing this game of winning. Rather than a sense of failure and dread, you begin to look forward to setting goals. Plus, you begin to believe that you can achieve higher and higher “Reasonable” goals.
Why the “Stretch” and Dream” Goals Are Important
Usually, people have a “Stretch” goal in mind that they want to achieve someday, but they can’t yet see how it will happen.
The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ asks you to also add a “Dream” goal target. Your ultimate goal, the one where you would be overjoyed, serves 2 purposes. One, it allows you to dream bigger than you would normally. Two, it puts the “Stretch” goal in perspective and makes it not such a lofty goal, one that you might actually believe you can achieve.
The definitions of each target, together with the process of setting these 4 goals in order frees your mind to dream as well as believe these goals are possible. It takes away the stress of having to choose one number.
ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ Example
Let’s assume you wanted to make a certain amount of money online per month. Your current Zazzle monthly earnings are $500 but you would love to earn at least $2,500 but can’t see how that is possible right now.
Then there would be the numbers you would set for your ERSD Goals for your monthly earnings:
“Easy” = $500 a month
“Reasonable” = $1,000 a month (2 x current earnings)
“Stretch” = $2,500 a month (5 x current earnings)
“Dream” = $10,000 a month (20 x current earnings)
Once you set targets like in this example, your mind begins to play with ideas and possibilities of how to achieve these goals.
You begin to realize that you have a few options that you have not yet capitalized on and you can actually easily reach your “Reasonable” goal.
You also put things in perspective. If you can reach your “Reasonable” goal, then how much more is it to achieve the “Stretch” goal? Only 2.5 x more!!!.
If your “Stretch” goal is becoming more possible in your mind, then what about your “Dream” goal? Even though it is 20x your current earnings, it’s only 4x your “Stretch” goal, which now feels possible to achieve.
ERSD Goal Setting Used by Hundreds of Clients
Once our Zazzle coaching clients are freed up to set 4 goals, instead of one, to achieve an ultimate goal, like their monthly earnings goal, they realized they were setting their single goal too low!!!
The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ makes you feel that success is achievable.
Tell Us Your Progress
Give The ERSD Goal Setting Technique™ a try and set your goals for your monthly earnings. Then start taking action and see at which level you achieve your goal.
Comment here.
We would love to read about your Zazzle success stories.
About the author:
Elke Clarke, is the award-winning author of the book Create Online and Grow Rich. Elke mentors and teaches digital creatives online marketing and business strategies to build a profitable eCommerce business. The Profit by Design Academy ® Coaching Program is Elke Clarke’s signature program that hundreds of people around the world are using to make money online by being successful designers and sellers on Zazzle.
