(And Why It’s Time to Rethink Everything You Know About Goal-Setting)
“Wait, Did You Say STUPID?”
If you’re like me, you didn’t mean for your goal setting to be STUPID. It just…happened. You had all of the right intentions. You were aiming for structure, something to measure progress against, and ultimately just wanted to run a more successful business. Maybe, like me, you were stuck in the vicious cycle of “Productivity At All Costs” and you felt generally directionless like I talked about in “Why Small Business Direction Mistakes Cost More“.
Yes. STUPID. As in:
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- Scattered
- Tried That Before
- Unclear
- Pressured
- Ignore Me Later
- Doomed From the Start
But after weeks or even months of beating your head against the proverbial wall, all you were left with was three project plans, seven spreadsheets across multiple devices or drives, and what feels like zero momentum. Mondays felt like fresh hope. Fridays felt like failure. And despite checking off a million tasks, you rarely felt like you were getting anywhere.
Turns out, STUPID goals are what naturally fill the space when you don’t have a system that works for you. And usually it’s not for lack of trying or emphatic promises made by the guru who sold you on their methodology.
Leave the Four-Letter Acronyms Behind
You’ve heard of SMART goals, OKRs, OGSM, and a handful of other frameworks that sound like government forms or personality tests.
Most of these systems were made for large corporations or hierarchical orgs with clearly defined departments and quarterly review systems. And they often work well in that environment, but not for your small team of four. Not your scrappy service business. Not your part-time side hustle with a full-time dream.
In small and even mid-sized businesses, flexibility and momentum often matter more than rigid structures. It’s time we act like it, so let’s introduce you to the evolution of goal setting and find out what really matters
A Quick History of Goal-Setting (And Where Things Got Better)
Let’s talk about the evolution of goal-setting over time:
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- OGSM (1950s): Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Measures. Got us started on the path toward structured, documented goal-setting and productivity and served as a precursor to more modern frameworks.
- OKRs (1970s): Objectives and Key Results. Built for cross-functional alignment and performance tracking. Great for scaling orgs. Overkill for your 3-person shop.
- SMART Goals (1981): Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound. Created for corporate managers. Still used everywhere. Often feels sterile and uninspiring in modern creative teams.
- BHAG (1994): Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Encouraged bold, emotionally driven vision-setting to spark long-term direction and commitment.
- HARD Goals (2010): Heartfelt, Animated, Required, Difficult. Pushed us to set goals that feel personal and urgent—not just practical.
- WOOP (2010s): Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. A science-backed mental strategy that pairs positive visualization with grounded planning. Simple, and surprisingly powerful.
- BSQ: Big, Small, Quick (2013): Emphasizes one big goal, small actionable steps, and quick wins to build momentum and avoid overwhelm.
- One-Word / Tiered / Micro Goals & Goal Pyramids (2015–Present): A new wave of simplified goal-setting tools. These methods prioritize clarity, emotional resonance, and manageable steps; ideal for small teams who need flexibility more than formality. You’ve probably read books like James Clear’s “Atomic Habits“.
These newer models soften the rigidity of goal-setting and focus on making progress feel human again.
Why Even the Newer Methods Still Fall Short
Here’s the real problem:
Most goal-setting systems take more time to plan than they’re worth. And by the time you finally write them down, they already feel outdated.
They assume you have:
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- A full day to strategize (you probably don’t).
- A perfectly predictable month (you already know it won’t be).
- A team that follows every plan to the letter (even though they wouldn’t promise that).
So what happens? You abandon them. You go back to reacting. And before you know it, you’re back to setting STUPID goals by default.
What Actually Affects Goal Success (Especially for Small Teams)
Here’s what matters more than format:
🔄 Flexibility
📋 Set Scope by Person or Team
✅ Ownership
Plans need to bend with your capacity, client load, or shifting industry tides.
A clear scope of ownership keeps people focused and accountable. Nobody should be juggling 8 “top priorities.”
Someone should feel responsible and empowered to follow through. Goals with no owner? To use some gen-Z slang my kids would cringe at…ghosted.
Note: Highly technical teams may still benefit from detailed systems like OKRs or Balanced Scorecards. But for small, growing businesses, agility and clarity are your secret weapons.
What Brains Actually Need to Succeed
🧐 Cognitive Load
Ever wonder why that business plan you put together 6 months ago has collected an inch of dust and needed to be updated an equal number of times since then, here it is. Most people can only focus on 3 to 5 active goals at a time. More than that, and the brain short-circuits. And that’s cumulative, not 3-5 per week, stacked up for 60-90 days or even a year at a time.
⚡️ Behavioral Momentum
And not only does what your brain can handle matter, but so does how to motivate it. Tiny wins release dopamine. Momentum builds from quick progress, not epic plans.
⏲️ Time Framing Suggestions:
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- Daily: 1–3 priorities max
- Weekly: 3–5 core deliverables
- Monthly: 1–2 themes or projects
- Quarterly: 1–3 goals per person or team
To put it simply…
Overwhelm = Paralysis. Scope matters.
From SMART to ALIGNED: A Better Way
Here’s what is working better for me: I stopped trying to follow some dusty acronym from the 80s and started asking better questions.
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- What feels alive or relevant right now?
- What outcome would genuinely excite us?
- What would move the mission forward without draining us?
Goals should feel like invitations, not obligations. They should stretch you, but not snap you.
When goals are aligned with your capacity, your team energy, your purpose, and your season of life? That’s when magic happens.
Final Thought: Maybe STUPID Was Smart After All
We never meant to set STUPID goals. But looking back, they taught us everything we needed to know about what doesn’t work.
Now, our goals are flexible. Alive. Aligned. Human.
And yes—productivity finally feels good again. So whichever model you decide to go with or to leave behind, make sure it’s the right fit for your organization and team.
Want to use my template that has helped me with goal setting and making daily, consistent progress towards those goals?
Drop me an email by clicking here and I’d be happy to send it your way!
Photo credits to energepic.com: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-sitting-in-front-of-macbook-313690/
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