By Lei Wang

You’re probably familiar with the concept of SMART goals. SMART is commonly defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Organizations use these goals with two primary aims in mind. When addressing each aspect of the initials in SMART goals, the anticipated result is a clearly defined direction for employees and a well-set timeline to overcome procrastination and motivate employees to stay on track.

It is easy to see how you could expect SMART goals to work best when you are trying to reach a well-defined, concrete target under a steady-state situation. Where you can see the target as realistic and the progress within your control, they are great for providing short-term direction and planning progress toward a long-term goal. But when should you abandon them?

Mistakes to Avoid

It can be dangerous when SMART goals are blindly applied to every pursuit. For people who are aiming for big dreams that venture into new territories, or organizations that want to truly achieve ultimate greatness, especially in a dynamic environment, SMART goals are often inadequate and sometimes detrimental. To avoid such mistakes in applying SMART goals, it is helpful to know where and why they do not work. SMART goals have six inherent problems.

1. Focusing too narrowly on a smart goal. When fixating on a single SMART goal, it is easy to fall into the trap of seeing it as the only goal. Looking at the goal in the context of the competing and contributing goals will likely influence your actions regarding the single goal.

2. Using SMART goals to measure success and failure. SMART goals need to be specific and measurable so you can objectively evaluate if you have reached the goal or not. It is effective in managing progress when working on projects in a controllable environment. If you apply the same criteria to measure success or failure, however, it can motivate people in the wrong way, and when the situation is dynamic or extreme, it can even be dangerous.

When success is measured by a SMART goal, people end up pursuing that goal to achieve a narrowly defined success and letting that exclusive target take over their identity. Failure to meet a SMART goal can make employees feel as though their lives are meaningless. They only see losses, unable to appreciate what they have achieved. What drives them to success when things go well may send them into a tailspin when they do not.

3. Sacrificing long-term success for a short-term SMART goal. Using a business example, turn to any business or market news channel and you will find a big portion of daily news is about how much the stock price of companies rises or falls because they beat or missed their quarterly earnings target or market expectations. To an outsider, earnings appear to be the most prominent metric for an organization’s performance. Because of the likely severe market reaction for missing their earnings target, firms commonly take extreme measures to meet earnings projections, even if it means sacrificing long-term growth or manipulating the accounting. Such companies operate as if the world ends every 90 days.

With this example, meeting the quarterly SMART goals set by Wall Street is a higher priority than their customers and their long-term success. Eventually, that strategy will be fatal for an organization.

4. Giving up too soon, and the all--or-nothing approach. A SMART goal can be discouraging, either before or after reaching the goal. Have you ever heard yourself saying, “I don’t have time,” when excusing yourself for not doing what you had planned for that day? Time management is one of the most popular applications of SMART goals. When you think about allocating time to do a certain task, it’s often in terms of all or nothing.

SMART goals are viewed as a complete entity, and when you are unable to do everything as planned, you can become discouraged and give up on the entire goal. When a SMART goal is the sole focus you work so hard for, it often becomes a negative incentive. When all eyes are on that SMART goal, you lose sight of the achievements and fulfillment of the journey.

5. Failing to realize one’s full potential. Even when people reach their SMART goal, it may not be a real success. There are examples of people starting a company based on a great idea or product. They work hard to bring their dream product to life. Once they reach their SMART goal, they relax and the organization’s growth curve dramatically flattens. They could have built a great company with many brilliant products, but instead they rested on their laurels.

While working toward SMART goals can motivate you along the way, they can often operate like a stop sign that makes you fall short of your full potential. Setting goals that are too easy will not move people to achieve more than the minimum of which they are capable. They then miss the opportunity for growth, and they will never know what they might have achieved if the goal had been more challenging.

6. Realistic and achievable can be misleading. When you are pursuing such “realistic” and “achievable” goals as your next promotion or next award, you should pause for a moment and question, “At what cost?” People who are so self-driven have a tendency to overload themselves with too many high priorities. An item is No. 1 for a reason, so with too many No. 1 priorities, the number becomes meaningless. Something has to be No. 2, No. 3, and so on.

When you look at each goal in isolation, it’s seen as realistic and achievable within a certain time frame. The tendency is to be overly ambitious, thinking, “I will figure out a way to fit it in!” But “realistic” is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is not just considering, “Is this goal realistic considering my capability?” but also, “Is this goal realistic considering all my other goals?”

Pursuing a lofty dream and fulfilling your greater purpose requires a broad vision, one that goes way beyond the immediacy of the next SMART goal. SMART goals can serve as checkpoints in your journey to keep you on the path toward success. It is important to measure progress by growth and effort as well, because it is the growth and learning along the way that are of the most value.

Lei Wang is a motivational speaker and author of After the Summit: New Rules for Reaching Your Peak Potential in Your Career and Life, Somerville, Massachusetts (www.JourneyWithLei.com).