SMART GOALS AND THE NLP

WELL-FORMED OUTCOME
MODEL
Goal setting functions as a prerequisite to success in most areas of life. Yet
sadly, still ninety-five percents of people do not set goals. Who do these
ninety-five percent work for? – The five percent who do set goals in life!

In NLP, the acrostic SMART helps you to define as precisely as possible an

outcome, what we really want, a goal and-or an objective. Obviously, a
goal is not an end in itself and rather a mean.

The Neuro-Linguistic Processing Model (Well-Formed Outcome Model)

allows us to go beyond mere “goal setting” into the actual “programming”
of our minds to drive us toward our desired goal. Our unconscious is our
best ally and will work precisely to achieve what we set it forth. (You will
find it interesting to have a look to the Prime Directives of the Unconscious
mind).

If you don’t set yourself on where you really want to go in life, you might
well be driven anywhere. While such an attitude can be a learning
experience in itself, it is crucial for your development to set and to define as
precisely as possible what you really want.

Why and what are SMART goals ?

First of all, let’s go more into details of the
meaning of this acronym
(S) means Specific
A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a
general goal.

To set a specific goal you must answer the “W” questions:

1. Who : Who is involved?

2. What : What do I want to accomplish?
3. Where : Identify a location.
4. When : Establish a time frame.
5. Which : Identify requirements and constraints.
6. Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the
goal.

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Get in Shape.” But a specific goal
would say: “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

(M) means Measurable

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of

each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track,
reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that
spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as:

 How much?
 How many?
 How will I know when it is accomplished?
(A) means Attainable

When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure
out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitude, abilities,
skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously
overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of
your goals.
You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and
establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that
may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and
become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow
and expand to match them.

When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as
worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you
to possess them.

(R) means Realistic

To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective towards which you are
both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic.

You are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be.
But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is
frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low one because a low
goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever
accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic if you truly believe that it
can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to
determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask
yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.
(T) means Timely

A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to
it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs., when do you
want to lose it by?

“Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May
1st”, then you have set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working
on the goal.
(T) can also mean Tangible
A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the sense, that is,
taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible you have a
better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

3
 THE NLP WELL-FORMED
OUTCOME MODEL
How does it work?
How can we actually “program” our mind to drive us toward
our desired goal, to achieve what we really want?

The brain not only uses the sensory system, it also uses our word meanings
that drive the sensory system. For this reason, the NLP Goal Setting Model
makes absolutely sure that we language ourselves in such a way as to drive
our very neurology and physiology towards obtaining our desired goal.

The specificity of the NLP Goal Setting Model facilitates concentration on

what you internally see, hear, and feel. Your attention will direct itself
toward external and internal resources necessary in achieving the goal.

The Well-Formed Outcome Model provides the following key components

that enable you to effectively identify your desired outcome and it begins
by eliciting that outcome even now:

1. Stating the goal in positive terms.

2. Specify the goal in sensory-based terms.
3. Specify the goal in a way that you find compelling.
4. Run a Quality Control check on the goal to ensure balance in all
areas of your life, work life, community – the global ecology of your
projcet.
5. Ensure the goal can be self-initiated and maintained.
6. State the context of the goal.
7. State the resources needed to achieve the goal.
8. Evidence procedure.
We will add a very essential point: the pleasure, the FUN, a real
satisfaction arising from the exercise that will come to shape events and the
results.
For more on the S.M.A.R.T way to set and achieve goals through the NLP
Goal Setting Model see the “Well-Formed Outcome Model” in The Users
Manual for the Brain by Bobby G. Bodenhamer, D.Min. and L. Michael
Hall, Ph.D.